Tuesday, November 16, 2004

The Medium is the instant-message

Legislation now allows for checks to be transmitted electronically between banking institutions. The result is that the check-clearing process that formerly took days now takes hours.

Industries were built around the resulting "float" of the few days it would take checks to clear. The float was directly tied to the amount of time it took a check to physically move from one location to the other. The movement is now unnecessary. Those industries are dying and new industries are being born.

"Float" as a commodity is going to only increase in value now that it can't be manufactured with creative check paying. Creditors sell "float".

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