Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 7
Trump in his first term:
Bitcoin it just seems like a scam. I don't like it because it's another currency competing against the US dollar...I want the dollar to be the currency of the world, that's what I've always said.But then something happened.
On the campaign trail in 2024 at the annual Bitcoin conference in Nashville:
Hello Bitcoiners, thank you very much, hello, it's good to be with you. And I don't think you've ever seen anything like it. And most people have no idea what the hell it is; you know that, right? If we don't do it, China's going to be doing it; others are going to be doing it, let's do it and do it right. We're going to be the bitcoin capitol of the planet and the bitcoin super power of the world, and we'll get it done... On day one I will fire Gary Gensler [SEC Chair who has advocated more regulation for bitcoin] and appoint a new SEC chairman. [throughout this speech, the crowd is cheering wildly] I didn't know he was THAT unpopular.Trump, realizing what a great grifting opportunity this could be, starts his own crypto business:
World Liberty Financial. Imagine the possibilities for grift. Huge.
And the crypto industry bought a lot of political clout this last election. They funneled a lot of money into electing Trump and many other down ballot candidates. And it worked. The vast majority of candidates supported by the crypto industry won their races. Hundreds of pro crypto candidates across the Senate and House were elected. Giving the crypto industry a whole new level of influence.
Now Trump is appointing pro crypto people to important positions in his administration. People like Howard Lutnick, a big crypto booster and nominee for Commerce Secretary.
The crypto industries main target, however, is the SEC, the agency that had been going after crypto scammers. Gensler out, Paul Atkins in, a crypto advocate.
And it looks like they will get looser regulations from the Trump administration.
And then there is the bitcoin strategic reserve that crypto industry is proposing. Trump:
To keep 100% of all the bitcoin the government currently holds or acquires into the future. This will serve in effect as the strategic national bitcoin stockpile. A bitcoin stockpile, like the gold reserves. Hmmm. Govt buys bitcoin, price goes up. Crypto bros get richer.
It's a crypto Christmas.
Trump's kids are big crypto boosters, too.
I'm skeptical that this will all end well, except for the Trump Crime Family who will probably make out very well.
Great podcast on the subject:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/podcasts/the-da...
No. of Recommendations: 6
A bitcoin stockpile, like the gold reserves. Hmmm.
Seriously, this reaches an altogether new level of stupidity.
If you are going to have a “stockpile” and vow never to sell it, what good is it? Gold, at least, can be sold in times of national crisis or war (as Adolph did to support his effort). Crypto, on the other hand, can vanish in an instant, either by market forces losing confidence or by the deft touch of a quantum computer which cracks the wallet.
I entirely admit I do not see a single redeeming value in a “crypto stockpile” any more than a “dot com” stockpile or a “tulip” stockpile, but maybe that’s just me. (Gold, by contrast, has lasted as a store for thousands of years, so I’ll acknowledge that it’s likely to hang around for a while.)
No. of Recommendations: 4
Crypto is like tulips. It is backed by nothing, and only "assured" with a blockchain. For whatever reason, gold has endured...as you said. It's actually just metal that is non-corrosive and doesn't form alloys well, and is a good conductor of electricity. But at least it's a "thing". Crypto is just a virtual blockchain.
I, for one, will never use crypto, nor ever accept it as payment for anything. I think it should be outlawed as the scam it is.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Cryptocurrency would seem to present a superb opportunity for well-heeled grifters in positions of international power, who own judges, legislators, and attract hordes of willing attorneys looking to get a foot on the big ladder.
"Private blockchains have been proposed for business use. Computerworld called the marketing of such privatized blockchains without a proper security model "snake oil"; however, others have argued that permissioned blockchains, if carefully designed, may be more decentralized and therefore more secure in practice than permissionless ones."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain
No. of Recommendations: 3
<gold>at least it's a "thing". Crypto is just a virtual blockchain.
While I hear this, current government backed fiat currencies are not really different than crypto.
No. of Recommendations: 0
I, for one, will never use crypto, nor ever accept it as payment for anything. I think it should be outlawed as the scam it is. - 1pg
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Me either. There was an article in Forbes a few months ago concerning all the flavors of crypto currency that are out there. The big ones we have heard of, Bitcoin, CoinBase, Etherium, etc.
The point of the Forbes article was that there are literally thousands of other crypto currencies that have been launched over the years, around the world, that are just setting around, many with little or no activity, launched but forgotten, the associated wallets holding mostly original investor money, investors who now can't find anybody to sell their crypto to.
Big or Small, it still is not clear who pays the data center bills for these currencies to maintain their records, "forever?".
No. of Recommendations: 3
<gold>at least it's a "thing". Crypto is just a virtual blockchain.
While I hear this, current government backed fiat currencies are not really different than crypto.
Slowly….. the realization dawns.
Used to be…. Folks touted the argument that bitcoin, like gold, had a limited “supply”.
That was before the day of an unlimited number of possible cryptocurrencies.
It’s always good to have a few gold coins for a rainy day.
On the other hand, that rainy day will occur when all faith in cryptos as well as all faith in government backed currencies is destroyed.
A “barbarous relic” is fit only for barbarous times. Unfortunately, the barbarians are at the gates of civilization (yet again)
Glad I’m 75 years old and hopefully will pass those gold coins on to the next generation without having to spend them.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Ultimately, currency is just something we agree to exchange for our labors to obtain the fruits of others' labors. In principle, many (most?) are backed by something. The US is gold, sort of...Nixon took us off the "gold standard", but we still have piles of it at Fort Knox and various federal reserve vaults. So it is still something.
I maintain that crypto is vapor. Sure, it's as much of a made-up thing as paper money**, but it is backed by nothing.
**Coins used to be made of silver, or even gold, and so did have intrinsic value on their own. Without getting into why we assign value to silver or gold, since they are just metals on the periodic table.
No. of Recommendations: 2
I've never understood the "own gold" thing. I can't eat gold. I can't drink gold. If things get as bad as you describe, we'll probably be on a barter system. I won't want your gold, I'll want to trade my labor or expertise** -for example- for some oranges or potatoes, or maybe a water filter.
**Probably not as a failure analysis engineer...too esoteric if we're in a barter situation. But I'm a trained physicist, which could be useful if you want to know how to build -for example- an AC motor.
No. of Recommendations: 1
While I hear this, current government backed fiat currencies are not really different than crypto. - alan
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I see two important differences.
Cash has pervasive acceptance damn near anywhere. Can't buy a lemonade from the kid on the corner with crypto. or can I?
One more big difference is with cash, a transaction can occur between two parties, not requiring the services of any third party, and not requiring any tech savvy by the buyer or the seller.
Remember most people don't even have a bank account, so I don't see them accessing the wonders of crypto anytime soon, or ever for that matter.
No. of Recommendations: 8
Money is whatever people say it is. Could be shells, beads, gold coins, tulips, or crypto, but then you have to be sure that people are going to agree about it tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that.
With gold there’s a pretty reasonable track record: several thousand years. The US greenback a hundred or two, depending on how you count and the strongest economy in the world to back it. That said, a nuke over Manhattan could put a hurt on it for a while.
Crypto exists in the minds of those who believe it, and that’s fine = but then so did tulips and shells and beads, and mostly that stuff doesn’t carry much weight anymore. If there’s a “run on the bank” as we have seen in the past, crypto could evaporate in a cloud of smoke, unlike gold (diamonds, etc.)
Maybe it won’t, and that’s fine for the believers. I find no reason to be a believer, however. My cash is fine, it works everywhere I want it to, and I’m not worried about some hacker finding a key into my wallet and absconding with my life savings.
In my mind, crypto is the new “it girl”, and given how trends can come and go, I’ll stick with mama.
No. of Recommendations: 1
In the South Pacific, there were "rai stones". I read (but now cannot verify) that many of those stones were very large, and a tribesman "owned" one. He knew which one, and it signified his wealth. Then the Americans came during the War, and cleared them for an airstrip. Totally messed up their economy because now they didn't know which stones were which. Or so I read a few decades ago.
Though the wiki says that when the Japanese first occupied the island, they did a lot of damage by using their stones as building materials.
They aren't used any longer, of course. But it does show that people can agree on anything as a mode of trade. The most common one today is gold, even if most currencies are only partially backed by gold. Should the excrement hit the fan, civilization crashes, cash and/or gold will be useless. It will be barter for some time before people start minting currency acceptable to the masses (what's left of them). During such an upheaval, I wouldn't be likely to survive anyway. 1poorlady also. We're getting old, have meds we need, etc. So it's not an issue for me. Despite what William Devane says, buying gold won't help me at all.
No. of Recommendations: 9
BitCoins are made by miners using computers.
There is a finite number of BitCoins that can be mined.
Miners also use their computers to keep track of who owns BitCoins and how many they own.
When BitCoins reach their finite number, miners will be paid fees to maintain the tracking system.
So when the finite number is reached:
Who pays the fees?
Who controls the amount of the fees?
What if the fees don’t cover the no-longer-miner’s costs?
What if the no-longer-miners shut down their computers?
Full disclosure: I currently own $11.58 worth of BitCoin according to my wallet (received $5 worth in a promotion a few years ago). Probably would cost me a $50 fee to cash out.
No. of Recommendations: 9
....gold will be useless. It will be barter for some time before people start minting currency acceptable to the masses (what's left of them). During such an upheaval, I wouldn't be likely to survive anyway.
I just got back from the Saturday farmer's market where I talked to a couple local small farm (less than 50 acres) vendors.
I asked if they would be affected if there was a major sweep of the plain and valley. They said no... but that it would kill the big farms that cannot work cost effectively on a small scale because their acreage is huge, machinery is big, the irrigation systems are huge, the packing houses, the refrigeration all takes a lot of labor and energy. The big ag farms cannot fire up all that stuff for an acre of row crops.
I asked if they would try and ship their small quantities to snow country where they could charge whatever the market would bear in the absence of the big growers filling the supermarkets produce departments. Again, they said no. Transporting small quantities is too expensive so they'll continue to sell to the few small grocers around here and do the daily farmers market circuit.
One guy who has 20 acres of row crops (broccoli, carrots, tomato, strawberries, snap peas, etc) told me he's building a chicken coop and buying a few pigs for his own needs because he has no confidence in the ability of the big meat industry to shield the labor without which they, like the big ag farmers,cannot function.
There are wild turkeys that visit my front yard every day, and deer a few hundred yards from my patio. As long as I can paddle my kayak, I can put halibut and striped bass on the deck, and perhaps barter with Mr. Velasquez for some of his pork and row crops.
No. of Recommendations: 1
Can any crypto currency raise taxes to pay its debts?
No. of Recommendations: 15
Moist Von Lipwig is one of my favorite characters in the Discworld books. Here he explains why potatoes are more valuable than gold.
“Good heavens, potatoes are worth more than gold!”
“Surely not!”
“If you were shipwrecked on a desert island, what would you prefer, a bag of potatoes or a bag of gold?”
“Yes, but a desert island isn’t Ankh-Morpork!”
“And that proves gold is only valuable because we agree it is, right? It’s just a dream. But a potato is always worth a potato, anywhere. Add a knob of butter and a pinch of salt and you’ve got a meal, anywhere. Bury gold in the ground and you’ll be worrying about thieves forever. Bury a potato and in due season you could be looking at a dividend of a thousand percent.”
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
No. of Recommendations: 2
Mark Watney totally agrees with Moist Von Lipwig.
No. of Recommendations: 1
And let us not forget the importance of 💩.
