Exactly.  It's hilarious how some people think Bitcoin will save them in some sort of global catastrophe.  Potable water, food, shelter, Guns/Ammo, and maybe gold/silver will be way more important in a mass EMP attack then stupid bits of code.

You can still use Paypal (but not via Ebay) to sell Bitcoins safely.  If you are a seller, tell the buyer to send the funds as a gift.  They will have no recourse against you.  Of course, this just shifts the risk to the buyer but if you can get a buyer willing to do so, Paypal is perfectly safe to use for a BTC seller. 

In a world of anonymity, someone has to bear the risk.  Just make sure it's not you. 

Indonesia has aging oil fields and rising local demand.  In other words, your country is a net oil importer and thus in the eyes of the US, we don't give a shit.  Buy our debt or sell us oil.  Otherwise, no one cares about you.

You can't prove shipment.  Blockexplorer doesn't mean shit.  If Paypal doesn't consider a receipt from the USPS as a form of shipment (they require a tracking #) you think they're going to give a rip about blockexplorer?

Bitcoins were banned from selling at Ebay.  If you continue to use it, then you do so at your own risk so stop crying.

Elwar,

It seems like you're an "all in" type of person.  I think one of your biggest mistakes is lack of diversification.  Selling gold to buy company stock is a good example.  This is a big investing mistake.  Not only should you never put all your money into a single stock, this is particularly important when that one stock is your place of employment.  For the simple reason that if your company goes under, you not only lose your job but all of your investments as well.

I'm of the opinion that our economy is in for a very rough ride.  The first thing you should have is a rainy day fund.  MINIMUM of 6 months worth of expenses, more if you can.  Then you can do your traditional investing in whatever you choose.  Lastly have a small portion for speculation like investing in Bitcoin, risking only as much as you can afford to lose without it impacting your life.

Hope you have better luck this time.

I'm not Christian but if I was, I'd pray you get hit by a bus.  Maybe the OP can help me out.

It's just that net worth is a figure that's easier to fudge.  Cash is cash.  Assets can be over valued on a balance sheet or liabilities can be under valued.  I'm not really trying to argue with you, like I said I get your point, I'm just saying liquidity is probably a better measure as to someone's capacity to destabilize a market.  Good point about using leverage.

I'd rather see the number of Americans with LIQUIDITY in excess of $10 million.  Net worth factors in long term, illiquid assets.  I get your point though, I just think you're using the wrong metric.

In an economy, deflation is a much bigger evil than inflation.  Deflation promotes savings and discourages spending.  In other words, kills growth.  Why would you buy something for $1,000 today when you can purchase it for $800 down the road?  Inflation promotes spending and stimulates growth.  I'll buy this house for $200,000 today because it will be worth $250,000 in 10 years.  This is why central banks try to keep a controlled amount of inflation over time rather than deflation. 

The problem is when things are taken to excess as seen in government monetary policy and consumer indebetedness over the last decade or so. 

Bitcoin is deflationary by design, and thus promotes hoarding.  This is a bit of a paradox for something that is trying to become a currency. 

Great post.  

I guess for me the concept of Bitcoin is very intriguing, downright ingenious in some respects.  So there's a part of me hoping it succeeds.  Unfortunately there's a more rational part of me that sees gaping holes in the model as to why it will fail.  But you're right, Bitcoin is what it is and certain aspects just cannot be changed.  Perhaps Bitcoin will be the jumping off point for a truly workable currency and in that respect, has value or at least a place in the history books for what may someday be the next currency.

I'll continue to watch this experiment closely but will stop harping on others as to its shortfalls.  We all have our opinions but you've made me realize that mine cannot change Bitcoin for the better.  

That's fine if you want Bitcoin to be some geek currency accepted by .001% of the populace.  However, if you really want BTC to take off, it needs to become mainstream and widely accepted.  This cannot happen under such volatile conditions.  People are screaming at MtGox over $1 and $2 price movements, yet somehow your average joe business owner will somehow act differently? 

I agree and even said the exact same thing in a previous post.  How do you get people to see the light though?  That's the difficulty.  Too many people are think BTC's will be worth $100 or more per coin someday despite having no logical explanation as to how that will happen under current conditions. 

Of course you can.  There's very little medium of exchange for Bitcoin so the value represented is based on the speculation of it's future adoption/uses.

Rarely anything ever goes right over there.  We really need to get the volume over to another exchange.  I'm hoping this new BX exchange pans out.

Ah gotcha, sorry I didn't read your title well enough.  I wonder if people are doing the reverse of the exploit.  Putting up an asking price, withdrawing all their BTC's and hoping the order fills and they get cash with no BTC's in the account to debit?  Although if that's the case, why use such a low number of BTC's?  I would think they would try to get as close to that $1,000 limit as possible.

How are phantom bids artifically holding down prices?  I'm assuming these phantom bids are using the exploit found yesterday and will not be executed.  Is it preventing legit orders from being executed?  If not, it's not holding down anything, just screwing up the bid/ask charts.

People are also willing to risk buying powerball lottery tickets even though their chances of winning are almost infinitesimal.  I do get what you're saying, a slow evolution towards acceptance.  I just question how many people are truly supportive of Bitcoin for the movement as a whole and how many are here to buy lottery tickets.  Perhaps in the end it doesn't really matter what the motive, the participation may be enough.

It's still a rather giant leap of faith at this point, however.  I'm curious to see how this all plays out. 

This is highly misleading.  Amazon.com does not accept bitcoins, an UNAFFILIATED entity conducts the transactions.  

Hey guys, send me your BTC's and I'll buy whatever you want from Walmart.  Does Walmart accept Bitcoins now?  

Even if that were true, would the owner (I seriously doubt it's up to the manager) be willing to take those risks in the interim?  Right now you have a concept that could essentially be worthless or perhaps in time have value (as an exchange medium).  What sort of incentive would entice the owner to convert now?  The problem is the smarter business choice is to play the "wait and see" game because right now you can't pay your salary, utilities, rent or inventory with bitcoins.  You can speculate that BTC's will increase in value but a merchant is not a speculator.  A merchant needs cash flow NOW.

Everyone likes to compare Bitcoin to Napster, Facebook, etc. but it's a poor comparison.  Those sites offer a service.  Bitcoin is meant to be an alternative payment/barter system. 

I agree.  And that I think is a big problem.  If Bitcoin is going to be a medium for exchange, there needs to be some sort of stability.

If I buy a sandwich from Subway tomorrow, I and the merchant, know exactly what the price will be no matter what medium of exchange (cash, credit card, check, etc.) I use.  If Subway were to accept Bitcoin, no one would know what to charge until the moment I got there.  And instantly afterward, the merchant is at risk due to volatility.  In this respect, Bitcoin is similar to Gold. I can't take my gold to Subway and use it as a medium of exchange.  The price fluctuation is too volatile.  Of course, gold is at least a commodity and has inherent usefulness so it trumps BTC's in that respect.

It's a problem I don't know how to solve, but I think it needs to if Bitcoin wants to have a sustainable future.  Otherwise the only value is speculation and that will turn once people realize it cannot ever be an acceptable form of currency for the very reasons you mention.