Numlock News: November 26, 2024 • Butterfly, Hurricane, Insurance Nightmare
By Walt Hickey
Tether
The use cases for cryptocurrency just get more and more clear, as large pharmaceutical import concerns have been relying on them to facilitate effective capital expenditures. Yes, according to documents unearthed by Court Watch, at least one money laundering operation has been using the cryptocurrency Tether to clean currency for large organized drug trafficking organizations, at such a volume that Tether sells for cheaper in Mexico owing to the simple understanding that it’s known to often be derived from drug proceeds. A document filed last week shows the U.S. government seeking to seize $5 million worth of Tether that’s in three accounts that are believed to belong to drug traffickers. One account thought to be linked to drug proceeds deposited $15,617,784.71 across 452 deposits and withdrew $15,664,456.29 through 567 withdrawals, like one would do when laundering a bunch of money.
Clean Air, For Now
The EPA reports that the real-world fuel economy of new cars improved by 1.1 miles per gallon of gasoline this year, reaching a record high of 27.1 miles per gallon for model year 2023 vehicles. That is vastly higher than the 13.1 miles per gallon first logged in 1975, when fuel economy data first began being measured. In 2023, real-world CO2 emissions hit a record low as well, reaching 319 grams of CO2 per mile, down 11 percent for the year thanks to the rise in EVs and plug-in hybrids. New, stricter emissions standards going into effect in model year 2027 will likely improve that even further, with a target of 170 grams per mile, and then by 2032 that’s linked to a target of 85 grams per mile. Then again, that does depend on whether or not there’s literally any enforcement mechanism left in the American government by that point.
Atlantic
Well, you do have to hand it to them; while the early forecast of 17 to 25 named storms looked like it may have been a bit of an overestimate from the good people of NOAA given a sleepy summer hurricane season, things got disastrously active toward the end of the season. When all was said and done, the Atlantic produced 18 named storms, pretty much right on the money. Eleven of those were hurricanes and five of them were major. Looking back on the season, NOAA achieved its most accurate track forecasts ever. That accomplishment was fueled by the daring actions of NOAA’s hurricane hunters, who flew 392 mission hours, penetrating hurricane eyes 80 times and deploying 1,246 scientific instruments over the course of the season.
Butterflies
A new study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution found that most of the land used by the Western monarch butterfly for its migration is private property, not national or state-owned land. While about half the land in the 11 states that host the migration is owned by the government, the mighty monarchs appear to prefer to feast on private property: federally managed land made up only 11.7 percent of the spring migration range and 23.4 percent of the fall migration range, with state, local and NGO land managing about 4 percent of the range on either season. This means that the fate of the monarch lies in private hands, and any venture to preserve it needs to factor that in.
Music
The total aggregate value of global music copyright reached $45.5 billion in 2023, up 11 percent year over year and well above the $25 billion estimated in 2014. That surge in pricing is due to the increased profitability of digital collections, licensing, touring, and the spike in value of catalogs as many established funds buy them up. Most interestingly, it underscores a massive shift in the entertainment business, one fueled by shifting strategies for film distribution following the disastrous pandemic and even more disastrous pivot to streaming: In 2019, consumer spending on the movie business was 33 percent bigger than music, and in 2023, music was 38 percent bigger than cinema, as music’s value grew 44 percent while movies’ revenue dropped 21 percent.
Parade
NBC is getting ready to pay Macy’s a small fortune to retain the broadcast rights to the Thanksgiving Day Parade, a time-honored tradition for America and an incredibly annoying impediment to me getting to Penn Station from Queens. The new deal would keep the parade at NBC, which has had it since 1953, and would crank up the fee paid by the broadcaster to over $60 million per year on average, which is a big hike from the $20 million a year under the current contract. It’s a very lucrative event — NBC sold $52 million in ads for the parade last year — but NBC does like to get a nice lead-in for the National Dog Show right after, which is increasingly becoming a Thanksgiving mainstay and last year sold $14 million in ads.
Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal
Comedian
The sale of Comedian, the artwork of a banana duct-taped to a wall, at auction for $6.2 million after fees presents a fascinating thought experiment in the art business: Can you insure it? Is it actually possible to insure this artwork, like one would for any multimillion-dollar work? The global value of premiums paid for art insurance is something like $2 billion per year, of which $750 million is direct art insurance and the rest is coverage for art under very high-value home insurance policies. That’s been rising 5 percent annually give or take, but even the actuary who has seen everything is going to have an interesting time appraising a mostly conceptual work where both the banana and the duct tape are generally not a major element of the work’s perceived value. Essentially, they’d be insuring the documents that say, “Yep, you own this art.”
I’m a huge fan of my guest in this week’s Sunday edition: my friend Manny Fidel, who is launching a podcast I’m genuinely very excited for and which you should definitely check out!
I dropped the paywall on our interview. Give it a read, and go follow them; they’re clever and the show’s going to be excellent.
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