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The latest controversy isn't about the Foundation but about some people who happen to be among its members. Let's forget them, BTC will outlive them.
We need some kind of an organization to stand behind BTC if there's a problem with the blockchain, or some major issue like MtGox's failure. The Foundation isn't perfect, but I'd say it's doing what it's intended to do.
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How about fixing the minimum wage at $.50 an hour? Or $.60? Hey, nobody said minimum wage should make you rich, right? There are millions in India who would be happy to work 50 hours a week for that kind of money. Now, what about the people who are unable to do anything worth 50 cents in one hour of work? They will stay out of the job market and live on state benefits if they're lucky enough to live in a country where that exists, otherwise, they will die.
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No collapsing in sight. Only evolution. The foundation is only a few years old. Just look at Europe or the U.S. some 240 years ago, everything was shaky back then.
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My advice to the British: Convert all your hard cash to Bitcoins and move to some sane country (i.e not to France). At the moment, the most viable options in the Europe are Russia, Belarus, Switzerland and Andorra. If you own any real estate, don't think that you are untouchable. They will take away our bullion and real estate also.
Russia? I think the richest Russians have moved to the U.K. or Switzerland. Germany, Austria look safer to me. The Netherlands are good, too. |
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I am not an American citizen and I can hardly say that I understand all the fine details within the American politic system. Now, I grew up in Germany, and I'm not saying Germany is perfect; however to my knowledge bribery is not directly legal there.. however it seems that bribery is very deeply implemented in the American politic system.. am I getting that right?
A few questions in that direction:
1) What is the difference between lobbying and bribing?
2) Does one need something like a "lobbying license" or something like that do lobby?
3) The Money which lobbyists give to officials, is that documented somewhere or is it actually "under the table" without any official knowledge of it?
4) Why, even though everybody knows how lobbying affects American politics, does never anybody speak out against it? Why are there no major protests against lobbying?
In short: Why isn't lobbying illegal?
Because it's useful. We need lobbying because most politicians don't know anything about the subjects they're trying to regulate. We need lobbyists, unions, activists and all kind of pressure groups to tell them not to do this, or that, because it would hurt. That's democracy and justice. Many citizens, when they vote, are some kind of lobbyists, following the advices they heard on TV. The only system where there can't be any lobbying is anarchy |
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Italians are hard workers. I'm always surprised when I'm going to an Italian restaurant to get such great food for less than half I would pay in neighboring France. Then, they have to work hard, in most of Italy, property is very expensive. Several times what it costs in Spain.
Probably the owner is a german the cook a romanian and the girl serving the stuff a russian. And the meat from slovenia and the vegetables from turkey. No. I'm very careful when it comes to choosing restaurants. The places I choose are 100% Italian where nobody speaks anything but Italian, and I'm going there to eat Italian pasta with Italian cheese and Italian ham. When it comes to that, a major issue right now in Italy is that some German company has managed to get the right to sell some German ham with the name of a famous Italian ham, and it's a shame because that German ham doesn't taste at all like the Italian ham... Thanks Europe! In Rome, there are quite many fast food outlets with Tunisians or other Arabs workers, but I'm not going there. |
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I hope Wall Street stays out of BTC. BTC doesn't need anymore speculators, BTC needs to get into the real economy, with small shops accepting it, not people who just want to make a quick buck.
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Italians are hard workers. I'm always surprised when I'm going to an Italian restaurant to get such great food for less than half I would pay in neighboring France. Then, they have to work hard, in most of Italy, property is very expensive. Several times what it costs in Spain.
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Please, don't talk about sex here. We know some people like to be spanked, taxed, or whipped, but this is a family website, we shall not talk about it.
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Both Spain and France have made it clear that they will not allow the Catalonians to declare unilateral independence.
I understand that. France is afraid an independent Catalonia would want the Perpignan area, and then the Basque would ask for the other side of the Pyrenees, so it has a lot to loose. When you start to change the borders, there's no end. I've never understood why so many people are nationalists or "regionalists". The worse was the people in Crimea saying they wanted to be Russians. I wish everyone to become stateless. |
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Assuredly a great experience, but I'm not sure that traveling the world on a motorbike can do a lot to promote BTC.
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Is this a big deal?
It's quite normal in any organization to see people changing jobs or places. Go to any bank, and ask how many people were in the same position 3 years ago. Then a man like Gavin Andresen shall be more useful elsewhere in the bitcoin foundation... I wish him to be successful in his new position, just like bitcoin.
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Do we need privately funded prisons for famous Bitcoin criminals?
Privately funded courts too?
Where could the courts be physically located?
No. No. No. What is a bitcoin criminal? A thief is thief, and it makes no difference to steal a car, gold bars or bitcoins. There will be differences between countries though, as some places do not recognize bitcoins, or places where it's forbidden. In guess that in China, if someone steals 100 bitcoins, the victim can't even go the police to report the crime. |
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BTC will last as long as the Internet.
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I don't know that Rossiya bank, but many banks appreciate international business people as customers, and propose them dual currency accounts or accounts in a foreign currency. Wherever you are, it's always best to have your main current account in the same currency as your main income, so most expats or travelers like me have something like that.
It's also possible to get a loan indexed to a foreign currency (though in the local currency) if your income is in a foreign currency, but most often, it's risky because you don't know how the currencies will evolve.
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I've read somewhere that in a few millions years, the sun is going to die, and we will all die. But I don't care, just like I don't care about the 21 million limit. It shouldn't mean anything to anyone.
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There's also the death penalty for muslims who give up their religion, and women can't drive in Saudi Arabia. Don't be surprised if nobody goes there for a vacation.
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IMHO one of the most important criteria is what sort of collection system will be used.
With a land tax (and to some extent a more general property tax) the things being taxed are very public and well defined. The taxing authority has a database of the property being taxed and knows who the owners are. It needs these in order to defend the ownership rights in the first place. If someone doesn't pay their taxes, they can be allowed to stay on the property (if it is their domicile) until they die, with a lien being placed on the property.
On the other hand, most other forms of taxation are significantly easier to avoid. This is a bad thing because their ease of evasion leads directly to more invasive enforcement techniques. A sales tax, for example, ends up requiring a virtual police state where business owners become tax collection agents. A business owner who finds out a competitor is not collecting/paying all their taxes can report them, harming their competitors. Tax agents need to be granted the ability to look into everyone's business to ensure no one is avoiding their "fair share". Income taxes are one of the worst in this regard, requiring everyone to open their personal books up to tax collectors.
If your tax system requires a police state, that is pretty bad indeed.
Those points are very true, this is why I'm against all income and sales tax. They require an army of agents to check reports and organize collection. |
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The least bad option is a comprehensive carbon tax that applies to all hydrocarbon fuels, from gasoline to propane. It gives each consumer the freedom to determine the energy use that best suits his or her budget. But is it fair? Only if it is revenue neutral, that is, if the extra tax income is offset with lower taxes elsewhere.
You only talk of automotive fuels. How about extending it to all energies, up to coal and nuclear? Better think global! |
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