i've reviewed all the news articles and watched the youtube videos and listened to all the podcasts.  the ones that annoy me most are the ones where ppl keep talking about the potential for the drug dealers and money launderers to exploit btc.   there is a ridiculous youtube by Hive 45 where the 2 hosts laugh and joke about offering anonymous bitcoin assasination contracts on ppl like Bill O'Reilly.  now everyone might hate O'Reilly and not care about him but the extrapolation for the paranoid elite of this country would be to themselves.  the way i see it, there is so much good about btc that needs to be more emphasized by the hacker community.  you should emphasize the morality of btc and how it can become the currency of the ppl b/c of its inherent fairness, stability, and privacy.  the negative and unfairness of fiat money expansion need to be pointed out time and time again.  fiat is for the elites; gold and btc is for the average American.  when u send those messages the only ones who will not resonate with this is the financial oligarchs.  i would tell anyone who cares about btc to avoid any and all talk about nefarious activities and emphasize just the positives.

thats really interesting to hear about French.  as a "big time" gold bug myself i somewhat sympathize with his viewpoint but also am enthused about btc.  i think gold bugs believe we will have an armageddon scenario where only physical coins in your hand will keep you alive.  btc users otoh believe that society will go on and technology will remain a big part of how we transact.  i'm thinking of debulking a bit of my bullion supply to invest in btc.

this is spot on.  i, as a potential, but yet still skeptical merchant need more discussion about the topic to make me more comfortable with taking the jump.

did Mtgox and Mybitcoin get hacked?

can u elaborate on what u mean by this?

nice

electricity has very little to do with bitcoin in the long run, if not now.  from talking to a few early participants it has already become almost impossible to generate bitcoins with the average persons home computer from a probabilistic standpoint.  therefore, the average person will have to buy bitcoins in the future.  how does the person w/o a computer or smartphone do this?  especially if one is unfortunate enough to be homeless?  i could see an evolution to paper bitcoins.  this would be a 2 edged sword however.  while it would put money into the hands of the non tech community, it would also lead to a decrease in the bitcoin money supply.  this is a problem as things would become even less expensive as the bitcoin value soars.  bitcoin ppl would love it but everyone else would hate it.  whats interesting is, the more one thinks about starting a new currency, the more one becomes to sympathize (just a bit) with the existing money manipulators.

HFT are forced to take out the bottom ask if you jump in the middle of their manipulation but a determined HFT can move the price up esp. in a thin mkt despite ppl dumping shares to them on the way up.  Many folks believe they have been a major force in the last 2 yr ramp.

assuming you're a perfect stock picker and avoided the calamities of the previous teflon stocks like the investment banks.

i'm beginning to wonder if the MtGox price is being manipulated as well.  if i setup 2 different accts funded with USD and decide to bid up the price of pizza back and forth with each transactions $0.10 higher than the last, in a thin mkt like we have i could become the HFT of MtGox.

not to mention CFC, DSL, WM, Wachovia, Bear Stearns, Merrill, Indy Mac, MBIA, Ambac, and how many others?  Financials still in the toilet along with housing for how many years?  Wait til the next plunge and we may be there right now on the precipice.  the only reason for the recent 2 yr ramp is b/c of Ben and the liquidity pump and how sustainable is that?

"nonsense it is best to be in 100% stocks at all times."

hows that worked out over the last 10 yrs?  2 crashes of over 55% in the last decade.  did you hold on during both plunges?

you should get rid of the dark pool.  it is inherently breeds suspicion and contributes to mkt obscuration.  as one who trades stocks i can tell you it is just part of the Wall St corruption/fraud scandal.

of course i'm not certain but one cannot fault the logic.  i understand the inflation logic too but deflation makes more sense to me right now.

IMHO, the best investment right now is shorting stocks.

i'm watching the stock mkt in real time right now.  i would caution everyone to look out.  i think we may be topping.  huge reversals in MANY stocks. Silver Wheaton making a big reversal. time to raise cash.

the Fed is clearly indicating a stoppage of QE and they've performed a couple of reverse repos in the mkt (selling assets which pulls liquidity).  i think their goal is to keep the markets off balance.  with everyone betting on inflation, they will do the opposite b/c the economy is in better shape and they can afford to.  forget this one world currency theory; the Fed will NEVER give up their franchise of the USD hegemony.  what do u think all the bankers wealth is denominated in?  USD!  are they just going to let Ben destroy that?  plus inflating the debt away only saves the American ppl, whom they don't give a hoot about.  they want to force us all to default with another secondary deflationary wave and then take the underlying assets away and OWN America.  besides, if u don't buy the conspiracy theory, i can make an argument that its time for a reversal from an overbought standpoint as well as an uberbullish sentiment standpoint.

creighto:  you're very much like me in what you've stocked.  however, i believe in stock mkt cycles and we've way over reflated the last 2 yrs and its time for Ben to let alittle deflation in.  you're starting to see it today i stocks.  anything but USD cash is very risky right now.

"So would every other currency as compared to the US $, so long as a functioning federal government exists and people continue to expect that to persist.  This isn't an issue unique to Bitcoin."

you're right about that not being an issue unique to Bitcoin but as you said everything would tank while the USD does a moonshot.  this is how i foresee Ben saving the Fed and their franchise of the USD as a reserve currency.

personally, i'm preparing for very hard times here in the US.  i don't think we avoid the austerity that the Europeans and Middle Easterners are facing right now.  our debt is just too big and the banks just won't let us off the hook.  my bet is that Ben reverses the liquidity spigot right here right now to wrong foot every inflationist on the planet (which is just about everybody).  in that case, bitcoin values plunge.  but that doesn't mean its a doomed concept.  ppl are just plain sick and tired of the Fed yoyoing the economy with their hairbrained policies regarding the cost of money.  bitcoins promise is that it gets rid of money manipulators like Ben.