Bitcoin Forum

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/20/american-debt-photos_n_6186756.html

What can Bitcoin do to help the plight of these people?

Bitcoin is money.

You are asking:

"What can money do to help the plight of these people?"

Money can't do anything by itself.  It requires people to use the money in a beneficial way.

i think he is asking can people sign up to millions of credit cards, use them to buy bitcoin and hide the funds, and then claim bankruptcy by showing no income and no bank balance..

hmmm you can. but just like gold if they find out you have hidden assets. they will do you for fraud..

your best chance is to ask mark karpeles what his plans are with his bankruptcy.

but i dont think people need to worry too much longer about being in debt. as the sh!t is about to hit the fan in regards to banks,
the main risk assessor of CitiGroup just committed suicide today, i guess he just realized the true state of financial affairs. also places like detroit is declaring bankruptcy..

This. There are too many people who think that bitcoin can solve all of the world's problems when this is simply not the case. Bitcoin has a very narrow level of usefulness and solving the issue of people being poor is not one thing that bitcoin is good for

Agreed.  Good for transferring money, not good for curing societal ills.

I never wrote that and that's stealing

what if i was to tell you that i quit my job in 2012 with only a couple thousand in the bank, enough to pay a few months of rent before being made homeless..

what if i told you right now purely because of bitcoin, i now have a net value holding of hundreds of thousands.
and also tell you that i have helped other people become financially free purely due to bitcoin.

i will also like to add
holding $2k in a bank for 10 years, lets say from 2004 would have bought you 1000 loaves of bread. but today only buys you around 750 loaves of bread.

now lets say i bought bitcoin in 2012 and simply held (no trading) again in 2012 would be about 800 loaves of bread, but today you can by 46k loaves of bread.

bitcoin is at a yearly low right now so dont base bitcoin on todays value when arguing the merits or demerits of helping the poor. base it on bitcoins true abilities and fundamentals in comparison to FIAT

Bitcoin itself may not be able to help these people but the Bitcoin community can if the indebted were to take an interest in Bitcoin and learn the monetary system. If they took an interest in the way the fiat currencies of the world are run then maybe they would become wiser with their money. Plus they could meet new people who may be able to help them plan their finances better and work their way out of debt so they can buy more Bitcoins!

I want to my dish network bill and bitcoin is on it.  I learned that i can pay my bill by earning bitcoin that is so cool do not worry any more. thank bitcoin.

Bitcoin is broadly applied  in gambling industry, probably use it to gamble and earn a quick profit to pay off your debt! LOL

great to hear others are finding the benefits. now just talk to your landlord about setting up a bitpay account, then walk down to your local grocery store and get them to accept bitcoin and you will be nearly sorted.

I would say that you happened to have good luck and purchased bitcoin at the right time. I would also say that you probably would have sold such bitcoin long before 2013 as they would probably have needed the money.

Your argument is based on bitcoin's prior price gains with 20/20 hindsight.

Bitcoin encourages saving.

The fiat system encourages debt.

This is what Bitcoin can do for the indebted.

I'm with Holliday on this one.

Everything to make money without work is gambling...
Yes, if you hold on to 1 Bitcoin the network will get bigger and have access to more funds from supporters, netting you a nice profit.
but if you really are interested in making a living. you have to put in the work, not just talk.

First you have to figure out how to get Bitcoin's in your community and tell people who can use it: Grocery stores, Businesses, non-profits, land lord too.
Start working for Crypto, start supporting the cause, by using services that you think are useful to you... no use just straight up consuming for no reason; Let the best services thrive.

The best use cases for Crypto are using it's more advanced features... it's programmability. Scrypt, smart contracts, Side Chains... It's going to require a lot of learning but that is where the Coins are at; in the complex use cases not supported by conventional money.

and once you have crypto, realize that it is all about the cycles, when it's up that is when you spend it, for maximizing frugality, and earn or buy low to increase it's worth to you.

Bitcoin helps them by not having to repay any debt.

If BTC catches on and largely replaces fiat money, fiat money will go into hyper-inflation before it collapses, hence their USD-nominated debt of $100,000 will shrink to the value of a mere roll of toilet paper.  :)

and thats why banks dont want hyper inflation and trying to get bailouts and increasing the debt ceiling to try keeping inflation below a couple percent.

they are scared that people will be able to pay off their debt with the funds used to buy said toilet roll