Jay Ambrose: A great speech that needed a great response

Republicans have also done it, of course, but there the Democrats sat: glum, angry, their eyes squinty and blank, despair and heartbreak evident in every whisper to each other, in every glance at the bully pulpit from which President Donald Trump was doing something amazing.

He was giving a compromising, coalescing, optimistically hopeful State of the Union speech, one of the most captivating in recent memory.

Often they are dull and boring, the reading of tedious lists of suspect ambitions, but here was Trump making vivid points on central issues and then arriving at humanizing exclamation marks in the form of recognizing outstanding American souls in the balcony who exemplified his message.

While Ronald Reagan started this, no president has done it as effectively or to the extent Trump did. And when, for instance, you were watching a creative, civic- minded, smiley- faced 12- year- old boy who had figured out a way to get thousands of flags placed at the graves of veterans in his hometown, you felt good. Democrats joined the Republicans in standing applause and the speech was enhanced.

But concerning just about every policy Trump addressed, the Democrats offered facial expressions that were the opposite of applause, with hypocrisy in the wings. Consider, for instance, how hard the party has been fighting for Barack Obama’s unconstitutional plan for temporarily legalizing some 700,000 children of illegal immigrants. Then consider their reaction when Trump said he wants to legally lift the number to 1.8 million with a path to citizenship.

They were not about to go along with that because Trump wanted them to compromise too, some Democrats said after the speech. It is anathema to them to give any on more border security, even though that is especially needed after amnesties and would certainly have to precede a more general amnesty. And they are certainly against the Trump idea of improving the immigration process by moving from nepotism to merit. So forget the Dreamers?

The Democrats were like that, too, on the tax reform plan they vehemently opposed and that Trump glowed about in his speech. It has already produced thousands of bonuses and jobs, he said, and that’s just as true as the likelihood that it will inspire economic growth to the point of higher wages for the downtrodden working class and glorious tax relief for one and all.

The Democrats’ problem is that some tax relief also went to the top 10 percent of wage earners, people who happen to pay 71 percent of all taxes and will now substantially aid the growth with more investments and spending.

Trump brought up infrastructure, and, like him, the Democrats want to move ahead on rebuilding falling bridges and the like, but will they go along with Trump’s ideas on local, state and private partnerships to keep the costs within reason? Will they agree to shorten an absolutely ludicrous years- long permit process?

Concerning other of Trump’s pronounced ideas, how will they stand on reforming welfare programs to make them more work- oriented? My guess is that they will agree to reform prisons that happen to really, truly need it. More vocational schools? Here is something hugely important for the unskilled in the working class and so let’s pray all sides can get together. Another good idea is letting the terminally ill try drugs not yet approved by the federal government.

In his first year, Trump has done an endless amount that is good, much of it very nearly the opposite of what Hillary Clinton would have done, especially on taxes, regulations and the appointment of judges. At the same time, he has too often played the buffoon, is more than a little worrisome in his trade interventions and badly needs to address the truly serious debt issue.

But, overall, here was an outstanding speech with outstanding purposes and we need something reciprocal from the Democrats.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Given the surge in demand and the tremendous promise of bitcoin as a tool for future digital commerce, this eight-year old “cryptocurrency” is an exciting new investment to consider for those who can afford speculative assets in their portfolio.

The key is to understand the role and risks of bitcoin.

The owner of bitcoin has access to a unique “address” with which he or she can exchange bitcoin for “fiat” such as U.S. currency or other goods and services in a digital transaction.

This transfer to the new owner is recorded in a decentralized ledger called the blockchain, after which a new unique “address” is created.

Both proponents and detractors of bitcoin agree that the blockchain is a disruptive technology that can increase the speed, efficiency and transparency of many transactions.

However, similar to the early dotcom days, when it was impossible to see how now iconic companies like Google would become ingrained parts of the internet and our everyday lives, many investors struggle to see how bitcoin fits in this economy.

I believe that, like every new paradigm-shifting technology, there are valuable economic opportunities embedded in bitcoin, an unknown number of which may come to fruition, and some which will not.

The utopian vision for the future digital economy involves using “utility tokens” rather than dollars or other traditional currency to buy digital-based goods and services.

For example, we already can use filecoin to buy storage on the cloud, litecoin to carry out money transfers and kodakcoin to buy images. But holding many different tokens could easily become unmanageable — which would represent a vital opportunity for bitcoin.

Bitcoin could emerge as the global currency that businesses and individuals hold in their digital wallets and convert to bitcoin-denominated utility tokens.

The world would effectively move to a “bitcoin standard” for digital transactions, similar to the global gold standard that was used for more than a century.

Government-issued fiat currencies would still exist, but the digital world would likely be dominated by this parallel currency system.

Like gold, bitcoin would become a store of value. The number of bitcoins that can be generated is fixed, and it has the same advantage as gold, in that it cannot be manipulated by governments to further political agendas.

While this may have limited appeal to stable currency countries like the U.S., it is extremely valuable in countries that routinely face hyperinflation like Argentina or demonetization like India.

Bitcoin has another obvious advantage over gold: effortless transportability. A very large percentage of the global population is only one generation removed from being under threat of having to flee their homes with whatever possessions they could carry. In those situations the ability to carry a part of their wealth as a number could be very valuable.

Bitcoin also has the potential to bank the unbanked — with a simple phone call millions of people without access to a bank or credit cards can gain access to a digital payment system.

Certainly, many stars will need to align for bitcoin to become “digital gold.” And, quite possibly, a governmentissued cryptocurrency or alternative coin to bitcoin could render it obsolete. Regulations could force it into oblivion.

However, bitcoin has a formidable first-mover advantage — a large network of exchanges and even ATMs at which it can be purchased and readily converted into different utility tokens. It can also be hedged in the futures market, is designed to be divisible to the eighth decimal place and is considered unhackable.

Bitcoin’s value is not backed by the good faith of any government or physical assets, but is driven by its demand. Its advantages have already led to a skyrocketing value, from pennies to over $15,000. The ongoing promise of bitcoin is ample justification to include this speculative asset as a small part of a well-diversified portfolio.