Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Bitcoin Discussion => Topic started by: carbonpenguin on May 03, 2011, 05:14:43 PM



Title: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: carbonpenguin on May 03, 2011, 05:14:43 PM
From BankInnovation.net: http://www.bankinnovation.net/profiles/blogs/the-dark-side-of-emerging

He doesn't mention btc, but from the way he shits his trousers about Facebook credits, I think we're his worst nightmare ;D


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: deadlizard on May 03, 2011, 05:19:45 PM
thanks for the laugh.
the best part was that he was frikin' serious ROFLMAO  ;D


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: kiba on May 03, 2011, 05:22:34 PM

He sounds like a raving lunatic.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: carbonpenguin on May 03, 2011, 05:25:24 PM
I know - and yet these are the types of people who are in charge of the current effed up financial system, which is mildly terrifying...


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: grondilu on May 03, 2011, 05:36:38 PM
When you think about it, you realise that in a fully interconnected worldwide electronic network, trying to centrally control the issuing of money is just ridiculous.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: proudhon on May 03, 2011, 05:39:11 PM
From the article:

Quote
The dollar – the one you are holding -- remains relatively secure; its fiat "value" has never markedly depreciated...

Discuss.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: carbonpenguin on May 03, 2011, 05:43:31 PM
From the article:

Quote
The dollar – the one you are holding -- remains relatively secure; its fiat "value" has never markedly depreciated...

Discuss.

Well, he does qualify the statement with "from state to state," which is relatively true. Over time, however, I feel there's a graph this man should see: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k3UqzQLD6qY/TTHqiWaQhgI/AAAAAAAABys/IaevumUli2U/s1600/Dollar%2Bdevaluation%2Bsince%2B1913.jpg


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: Satori on May 03, 2011, 05:44:48 PM
From BankInnovation.net: http://www.bankinnovation.net/profiles/blogs/the-dark-side-of-emerging

He doesn't mention btc, but from the way he shits his trousers about Facebook credits, I think we're his worst nightmare ;D

He seems to be using the emergence of digital currencies as a pretext to shift Federal Reserve Notes into an even less tangible, and more inflatable, currency supply.

A few years back, the Federal Reserve announced it would no longer be telling the People in its' quarterly reports how many Federal Reserve Notes it had out there in circulation.  It's now impossible to know the value of a dollar.

Digitizing currency would be the next move away from hard backing.  They've been pulling this ever since they yanked the gold out of the dollar, by force.  Now they're trying to do it again, and this time use modernization as a pretext.

They're probably banking on the idea that most people will be using Facebook Credits1 or some equivalent which the establishment can control.  That would allow them to tinker with and warp the economy even more than they already do, and far more easily.  Hyperinflation.  Unbelievable money market manipulation.

Which is actually great news for BitCoin users.  Insist on a harder currency than even Federal Reserve Notes, and keep it, and you'll have more value as everything else inflates around you. (http://youtu.be/qu2uJWSZkck)


__

1 Facebook and Google both come from a company called In-Q-Tel, which is the C.I.A.'s corporate investment arm.  When they want to do something they're not allowed to do, they very frequently start a corporation to get around their federal restrictions.  Facebook for instance works with the Information Awareness Office (http://youtu.be/5-qgwTvnGes) to collect, and freely distribute to any entity they like, information you post on Facebook and anywhere else around the Internet.  The IAO accumulates this information on citizens in a database, and thus tries to hack the Fourth Amendment prohibition against search and seizure without a warrant.  Google places itself as the leader of free information services, where you can go online and give it all your data to put into charts and so forth.  The CIA's Keyhole program was implemented by Google and became known to the public as Google Earth.  The reason the mainstream know about, use and trust sites like Facebook and Google is that those are the services promoted on the news and other mainstream media.  Those media corporations are owned by the same few parent companies, allowing the opportunity for easy market saturation and manipulation.  All of this is readily verifiable online.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: Satori on May 03, 2011, 05:46:53 PM
From the article:

Quote
The dollar – the one you are holding -- remains relatively secure; its fiat "value" has never markedly depreciated...

Discuss.

Technically correct, but obviously misleading.  Assessment: Unconvincing shill.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: m4rkiz on May 03, 2011, 05:51:23 PM
not quite get it: he is claiming that credit card dollars are different from piece of paper dollars?
i agree with him mentioning paypal, fb etc. but credit cards?
and how is his imagined digital dollar different from internet banking?


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: jimbobway on May 03, 2011, 05:55:30 PM
not quite get it: he is claiming that credit card dollars are different from piece of paper dollars?
i agree with him mentioning paypal, fb etc. but credit cards?
and how is his imagined digital dollar different from internet banking?

Credit card companies charge transaction fees (along with FB credits etc.)  So yes it is different than paper dollars.  If you own the medium of exchange then u can charge for ridiculous fees, inflate the currency, etc.  Bitcoin solves all of these problems.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: RodeoX on May 03, 2011, 05:56:43 PM
His world of bank power is about to end.  :-*


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: m4rkiz on May 03, 2011, 05:59:33 PM
well i never had to pay more with card that i would pay with euros from my pocket

in fact i don't see any difference (for those that taking money from me) between 1% fee for processing card payment and renting armoured van and security guards to transport money that supermarket just earned

while fb money can be wiped out or lose all value instantly i really dont think there is any substantial difference (that he is suggesting) with 'real' and 'bank' money


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: niooron on May 03, 2011, 06:08:27 PM
Someone should inform that guy of Bitcoin. Might be fun if he answers.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: BitterTea on May 03, 2011, 06:08:48 PM
This is one of my favorite quotes from the article.

Quote
A core function of government since the beginnings of civilization has been to provide legal tender.

Or, you know, since 1862 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_Tender_Cases).


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: proudhon on May 03, 2011, 06:16:05 PM
From the article:

Quote
The dollar – the one you are holding -- remains relatively secure; its fiat "value" has never markedly depreciated...

Discuss.

Well, he does qualify the statement with "from state to state," which is relatively true. Over time, however, I feel there's a graph this man should see: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k3UqzQLD6qY/TTHqiWaQhgI/AAAAAAAABys/IaevumUli2U/s1600/Dollar%2Bdevaluation%2Bsince%2B1913.jpg

I guess I took him to be saying that its value has never markedly depreciated [stop] and has never deviated from state to state.  But I think you're right, I read him uncharitably.  Upon reflection, what he meant was it's value has never depreciated from state to state and it's value has never deviated from state to state.  Ok, I fail.  But, then again, his claim doesn't address the fact that transactions are more and more international over time, so the dollar's stability between US states is irrelevant when I'm buying something from Europe.

I get a sense from his article that there's an analogy between his attitude and the attitude of, say, Britain toward the American colonies - "they're starting to do their own thing over there without our say so, we need to act quick to stamp them down".


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: Satori on May 03, 2011, 06:34:52 PM
This is one of my favorite quotes from the article.

Quote
A core function of government since the beginnings of civilization has been to provide legal tender.

Or, you know, since 1862 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_Tender_Cases).

Legal tender is fiat currency to begin with.  "Legal", as distinct from lawful, is defined as "having the form and appearance of law, without necessarily having the substance of law".  It's a term of bureaucracy.  All the papers signed correctly, dated, turned in on time to the right people?  Great, it's legal.  But it doesn't follow that it's also lawful.  To be lawful something must also derive from the authorities we the People vested in our government.  Thus, lawful money would be gold or silver.  We authorized nothing else, and did not authorize the federal government to outsource its responsibility to mint to private corporations like the Fed.  "Legal" is typically used by white-collar in-the-know hucksters as shorthand for "will appear legitimate to most people", or more plainly, "looks legit".  I don't typically care whether it looks legit; I care whether it actually is.

This is why legal tender is tendered, and things are purchased now rather than owned.  Purchasing refers to being allowed to use something, upon a promise to pay the owner at a later date.  As such, items aren't bought anymore.  Nor are they owned; instead the would-be owner is considered the "holder in due course" of the item.  This is so because legal tender is backed by "the full faith and credit of the people".  Literally, all the assets of federal citizens are mortgaged to back Federal Reserve Notes.  These promissory notes are promises to pay at a later date, and naturally you can't pay off a debt with IOU's.

I get a sense from his article that there's an analogy between his attitude and the attitude of, say, Britain toward the American colonies - "they're starting to do their own thing over there without our say so, we need to act quick to stamp them down".

Certainly.  In this case, without deigning to lend publicity to BitCoin, that author tries to use it as the opportunity to promote acceptance of flawed, corrupt alternatives.

Like the War for Independence, the only remaining option when you can't effectively use brute force to stop an idea from spreading is to convince people they're getting what they want, so they'll relinquish it.  The War for Independence never stopped, it simply went from military force to propaganda and rampant public defrauding.  It's difficult to stop an idea through force of arms, and if they had kept up they would've had ideas from the Colonies spreading to the citizens back home.  A gradual campaign of distortion and corruption over about two hundred years was needed, with the result that the U.S. is now worse than Britain had ever been.  But knowlegable dissent, by and large, had been quieted due to the apparent success achieved by the People.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: SlaveInDebt on May 03, 2011, 06:48:49 PM
Quote
Treasury is printing dollar bills without regard for profit.

Failed to mention the Fed request said dollars and lends out at interest.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: kseistrup on May 03, 2011, 06:54:08 PM

Another interesting article on the same subject: Simon Dixon: Peer To Peer Lending — will it replace banking? (http://www.simondixon.org/peer-to-peer-lending-will-it-replace-banking/2011/03/27/)



Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: Satori on May 03, 2011, 07:12:08 PM
Quote
Treasury is printing dollar bills without regard for profit.

Failed to mention the Fed request said dollars and lends out at interest.

Not to mention the scam known as fractional reserve lending (http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/frb.html).


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: RodeoX on May 03, 2011, 08:35:23 PM
I don't see how anyone can deride a P2P currency while attempting to defend something as utterly corrupt as banking.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: BitterTea on May 03, 2011, 08:42:03 PM
To be fair, the things he derides in this article aren't p2p currencies, but a sort of dollar backed digital script issued by private organizations.

I'm sure he'd shit a brick over Bitcoin though.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: marcus_of_augustus on May 03, 2011, 09:16:45 PM

Resistance if futile.

The banksters have their hands full propping up their collapsing house of cards, bitcoin is off their radar. imagine halfway through next year, they are in the middle of a war, debt bombs going off everywhere, runs on sovereign bonds, banks going bust, riots in the streets and then BITCOIN shows up on their radar looking like the size of the mothership from planet Nemesis ... it'll be the killer-blow, they're fucked.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: Satori on May 03, 2011, 09:48:03 PM

Resistance if futile.


Resistance if feudal.

Banks used to be outlawed in medieval Europe, because of their tendency to get into economies and knock them over.

We also get the word villain from the feudal term for a land-owner who'd make people work his land for him in order to have use of any.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: abyssobenthonic on May 03, 2011, 11:05:41 PM
From the article:

Quote
The dollar – the one you are holding -- remains relatively secure; its fiat "value" has never markedly depreciated...

Discuss.

Well, he does qualify the statement with "from state to state," which is relatively true. Over time, however, I feel there's a graph this man should see: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_k3UqzQLD6qY/TTHqiWaQhgI/AAAAAAAABys/IaevumUli2U/s1600/Dollar%2Bdevaluation%2Bsince%2B1913.jpg

I think it's accurate, if unintentionally so.  The fiat value of a fiat currency is not its purchasing power but its ability to prevent the government from kidnapping you, killing you, or taking your stuff.  Considering how taxation (aka demands for fiat currency or else the government will kidnap you or take your stuff) and government murder rates have generally tended to grow, the fiat value has probably only rarely depreciated.

The value of fiat currency in terms of purchasing power, though, is another matter entirely...


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: FreeMoney on May 04, 2011, 04:35:32 AM

Resistance if futile.

The banksters have their hands full propping up their collapsing house of cards, bitcoin is off their radar. imagine halfway through next year, they are in the middle of a war, debt bombs going off everywhere, runs on sovereign bonds, banks going bust, riots in the streets and then BITCOIN shows up on their radar looking like the size of the mothership from planet Nemesis ... it'll be the killer-blow, they're fucked.

Lol +1

It's so not their way of thinking that it'll seem just like aliens landing and taking their jobs.


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: asdf on May 04, 2011, 04:41:04 AM
Quote
The fact is virtual currency will create a casino of currencies with various valuations. And that makes the situation ripe for consumer abuse.

"consumer abuse" - wat? People trading goods an services without giving the government it's cut. Stop abusing the government, people!


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: deadlizard on May 04, 2011, 05:15:14 AM
Quote
virtual currency will create a casino of currencies with various valuations.
unlike the forex market  :D


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: joeydangerous on May 04, 2011, 08:25:05 AM
Thanks for the read, very funny!


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: carbonpenguin on May 04, 2011, 01:30:59 PM

Resistance if futile.

The banksters have their hands full propping up their collapsing house of cards, bitcoin is off their radar. imagine halfway through next year, they are in the middle of a war, debt bombs going off everywhere, runs on sovereign bonds, banks going bust, riots in the streets and then BITCOIN shows up on their radar looking like the size of the mothership from planet Nemesis ... it'll be the killer-blow, they're fucked.

Lol +1

It's so not their way of thinking that it'll seem just like aliens landing and taking their jobs.

The theme of the American Bankers Association convention next year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGZ1nK4mOuw&feature=related


Title: Re: Bank insiders fretting about "Virtual Dollars" breaking the money monopoly
Post by: mikegogulski on May 04, 2011, 05:25:08 PM
Wow, that guy's ignorance and triumphalist statism really know no bounds.

@Satori: Fractional reserve as presently implemented is accurately described as a scam. However, I suspect that in a truly free market (i.e., absent the state and its privileges to the banking cartel) fractional reserve would complete quite successfully with full-reserve banking.