Title: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: BitChick on June 28, 2013, 03:54:48 AM I was looking up some quotes from some US "founding fathers" and found some really interesting ones from Thomas Jefferson. He would have loved Bitcoin for sure!
Here are some I found: Quote I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. Thomas Jefferson, (Attributed) 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826) Quote "The eyes of our citizens are not sufficiently open to the true cause of our distress. They ascribe them to everything but their true cause: the banking system... a system which if it could do good in any form is yet so certain of leading to abuse as to be utterly incompatible with the public safety and prosperity." - Thomas Jefferson Quote "Paper is poverty,... it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788. Quote "The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution. They are not among the powers specially enumerated." --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on Bank, 1791. Quote "If the debt which the banking companies owe be a blessing to anybody, it is to themselves alone, who are realizing a solid interest of eight or ten per cent on it. As to the public, these companies have banished all our gold and silver medium, which, before their institution, we had without interest, which never could have perished in our hands, and would have been our salvation now in the hour of war; instead of which they have given us two hundred million of froth and bubble, on which we are to pay them heavy interest, until it shall vanish into air... We are warranted, then, in affirming that this parody on the principle of 'a public debt being a public blessing,' and its mutation into the blessing of private instead of public debts, is as ridiculous as the original principle itself. In both cases, the truth is, that capital may be produced by industry, and accumulated by economy; but jugglers only will propose to create it by legerdemain tricks with paper." --Thomas Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813. Title: Re: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: vokain on June 28, 2013, 03:57:27 AM I like this one a lot :) There's a lot of coverage on why Thomas Jefferson was so vehemently against private central banks
All Wars are Bankers' Wars (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfEBupAeo4&feature=player_embedded) Title: Re: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: BitChick on June 28, 2013, 04:15:50 AM Very enlightening video. It is a bit depressing though. I guess it just shows us how things have not changed much, unfortunately.
It is a bit disconcerting thinking about what may happen. I guess I am surprised the banks are not fighting BTC more then they already are? I suppose they do not see it as a very big threat yet? Title: Re: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: vokain on June 28, 2013, 04:30:58 AM Very enlightening video. It is a bit depressing though. I guess it just shows us how things have not changed much, unfortunately. It is a bit disconcerting thinking about what may happen. I guess I am surprised the banks are not fighting BTC more then they already are? I suppose they do not see it as a very big threat yet? It's because bit by bit they're losing control, I imagine. The sooner we agree not to do it their way, the quicker things change. The more and more people have to suffer, the greater the effect that game theory (via streissand effect) exposes the scheme with the spread of ideas via technology in this day and age. Title: Re: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: legitnick on June 28, 2013, 04:31:29 AM I was looking up some quotes from some US "founding fathers" and found some really interesting ones from Thomas Jefferson. He would have loved Bitcoin for sure! Here are some I found: Quote I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. Thomas Jefferson, (Attributed) 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826) Quote "The eyes of our citizens are not sufficiently open to the true cause of our distress. They ascribe them to everything but their true cause: the banking system... a system which if it could do good in any form is yet so certain of leading to abuse as to be utterly incompatible with the public safety and prosperity." - Thomas Jefferson Quote "Paper is poverty,... it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788. Quote "The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States by the Constitution. They are not among the powers specially enumerated." --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on Bank, 1791. Quote "If the debt which the banking companies owe be a blessing to anybody, it is to themselves alone, who are realizing a solid interest of eight or ten per cent on it. As to the public, these companies have banished all our gold and silver medium, which, before their institution, we had without interest, which never could have perished in our hands, and would have been our salvation now in the hour of war; instead of which they have given us two hundred million of froth and bubble, on which we are to pay them heavy interest, until it shall vanish into air... We are warranted, then, in affirming that this parody on the principle of 'a public debt being a public blessing,' and its mutation into the blessing of private instead of public debts, is as ridiculous as the original principle itself. In both cases, the truth is, that capital may be produced by industry, and accumulated by economy; but jugglers only will propose to create it by legerdemain tricks with paper." --Thomas Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813. Great finds, with some awesome information, thanks! Title: Re: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: bluemeanie1 on June 28, 2013, 08:39:59 AM there was a period of American history where the Federal Government did not regulate banking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_banking Quote Wildcat banking refers to the unusual practices of banks chartered under state law during the periods of non-federally regulated state banking between 1816 and 1863 in the United States, also known as the Free Banking Era. This era, commonly described as an example of free banking, was not a period of true free banking, as banks were free of only federal regulation; banking was regulated by the states. The actual regulation of banking during this period varied from state to state. Jefferson was against central banking, but Andrew Jackson was perhaps the strongest opponent of a federal bank during that period. Title: Re: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: herzmeister on June 28, 2013, 11:02:15 AM vehemently against private central banks MtGox et al are pretty private central banks. Title: Re: Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin! Post by: AliceWonder on June 28, 2013, 12:07:56 PM vehemently against private central banks MtGox et al are pretty private central banks. Which is why you should only use them (any of them) only for their exchange services and keep the currency you are saving / using in a local wallet. |