When I've asked international copyright specialists how all these Berne nations can have radio stations and karaoke bars and hairdressers and such playing music without negotiating all their playlists one at a time, the usual answer is: "Well, technically, I suppose, they shouldn't.
Well, why else? Nation of Change reprints iWatch's definitive tax-holiday post by Aaron Mehta and John Aloysius Farrell, Wealthy Corporations With a Trillion Dollars Stashed Offshore Lobby For a 'Holiday' From U.S. Taxes, and in it we find the (usual) answer, A number of trade groups and corporations that would benefit have joined in a coalition called WIN America.
The usual answer is a billionaire seeking a trophy asset.
In the days of his partnership with Mr Weill, an acquisition was the usual answer to stagnation.
The usual answer is a central bank: exactly what Bitcoin is trying to avoid.
The usual answer is a litany of whinges: short-sighted financiers, poorly skilled workers, the wrong exchange rate, too little state support, or low-wage competition from abroad.
The usual answer is "a flower in the wrong place" which is good enough to license much of the book's later discussion.
And the usual answer to a demand-side slump, reducing interest rates, hasn't worked: the Bank of Japan has cut the equivalent of the Fed funds rate all the way to zero, and yet the economy remains depressed.
The usual answer is a vague demand to "be more innovative". On one level, that is true.
Asked if and and when the device will be commercialized I received the usual answer: "Maybe in a few years, maybe never".
