Your idea is already implemented in the Bitcoin protocol https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Contracts
but was disabled due to bugs/issues. You could press on the developers to fix the issues and re-implement it again, maybe? Or ask someone else to get it working in a different client/miner.

(Satoshi thought of everything  )

A few of us on another thread have calculated out a loan repayment system that may work ok in a deflationary system. Basically, your first few payment will be higher than normal, with each consecutive payment decreasing until the last payment is fairly small compared to where you started. The loan is similar to an inflationary currency loan, where although each payment is the same amount, the value decreases over time, and it manages to pay back both bank's interest and compensate for deflation. One major assumption of it though is that deflation stays constant. The deflation amount may be adjustable on the fly, but I haven't played with that yet.

And that's why he won't have a chance of winning. Big money interests won't help elect someone they know they can't buy.

Would Paxum ever consider switching from playing the middle man, and just let people exchange their currencies to Bitcoin directly on their site? Would be another source of revenue, and an advantage against Dwolla.

I wonder if Bitomat will be adding their 17,000BTC to this list?

I think the biggest/main problem with this idea is the trade imbalance between two systems. If way more people end up wanting Bitcoin than TF2 keys, you'll end up flooding the TF2 market with keys that are pegged to USD, but are actually worth less. It'll be pretty much like the situation with US and China, with US wanting Chinese goods, and China ending up being stuck with lots of much cheaper USD while still trying to peg their currency to USD.

In the US, I would replace people's Social Security numbers with their self-chosen Bitcoin addresses, or request employees to register a Bitcoin address with me whenever they get a job, even if they keep separate addresses for separate jobs. I would then require businesses to pay their employees to those registered Bitcoin addresses, and use the public blockchain information to calculate payroll taxes. Allowing registration of other addresses, such as merchant's payment addresses, business's main revenue addresses, bank customer's mortgage payment address, etc. will allow me to automate my tax collection process, and will eliminate the requirement for individuals and businesses to file tax forms except for specific tax deductions that can't be automated in a similar way. This way, I (as a government) will still be able to collect the same tax revenues, but will save everyone billions in tax accounting and preparation work.

Every time someone buys a Bitcoin, the next Bitcoin costs them more. If a government tried to buy all the Bitcoins, the first Bitcoin may cost them $13.50, but very last Bitcoin they buy will likely cost them over $100million.

Ok, how about, you hire a physics professor to do a physics problem, an electrician to fix an electrical problem, and a corporate business guy to fix a corporate business problem? There's just no one else to hire who will understand any of the stuff they're dealing with.

The Islam extremism is the one thing that really worries me about Somalia, and may be the thing that keeps it from turning into Cayman Islands, and instead turns it into another Taliban-overrun Afghanistan

If "Federal" was at fault, explain why even more heavily federal schools in Europe, Asia, and Eastern Europe are doing better than the schools here in USA?

Now we just need some gutsy, heavily armed libertarians to move over there and establish some businesses to get things going.

Really, only ones I'd keep are Social Security, Medicare, Interest on Treasuries, IRS Refunds, HUD, Fed salaries, active duty pay, and Department of Justice. Keep the old folks safe and in homes, keep their pensions safe, don't leave the soldiers stranded, and keep the justice system running to businesses still have trust here. I'd also prefer to keep the fed government running, since things like FBI, and CIA and stuff do provide some useful services, though I think that the Fed salary number should decrease if you keep some other things unchecked.

Unemployed and others? Guess it's time to make up with your estranged family members and move back in.

Anonymous enough to avoid taxation, and can work outside of government's monitoring of the financial system. You can work for cash and pay with cash to get the same effects, but that cash is still coming from somewhere and going to somewhere and questions can be asked. With Bitcoin it may be easier to be completely under the radar.

If you are going to quote my 50/50, and point out how it's ridiculous that I think it's 50/50, please quote the whole thing. I was referring specifically to Poland.

As for the rest, people had guaranteed employment, had their apartment provided for them, had free healthcare, free education, cheap transportation ($0.05 one way on metro), cheap food (loaf of bread $0.20), and calm, safe neighborhoods. Now they have to pay rent or mortgage, pay money to get decent healthcare, transportation and food are much more expensive, and crime and burglaries are rampant.
What those people forget about their past "comfortable" life is that:
They used to have to live on $320 a month (combined salary of both my parents working high up at a biotech lab), and now earn $2,000 or more
To get an appartnemt used to mean you have to get on a 10+year waiting list, and most lived in a cramped apartments all together with their parents and grandparents
The quality of free healthcare they get now hasn't changed. They just realized how horrible it was now that they can compare it to type you pay for (my dad had to have his appendix removed under USSR. They only went as far as sterilizing the tools, but didn't give him any anesthetic.)
Food was cheap, but not available. The stories about standing in line are true. If you heard that a local grocer is getting potatoes, or anything fancier, that day, you got in line at 6 or 5 in the morning to make sure you got some. Now, prices are higher, but also because you actually have options and see how much things really cost.
Neighborhoods were calm, safe, and quiet, but really only in people's heads. There were still drunks, burglars, and rapists around, though not as many. The reason was that people were really scared of the government, which can come, arrest you, and send you to a work camp for whatever reason. So, really, the dark, hidden, and without cause threat got replaced by blatant, visible, and obvious threat. At least this threat is visible enough to avoid.
Public transportation and education are still top notch though, so can't fault those.
Really, it's a case of "'mo money 'mo problems" and "ignorance is bliss"

Also, remember how it was MUCH better here in America in the 50's? All the old people have such nostalgia for it. Never mind the war, the rampant racism and misogynism, and all the other bs people had to deal with.

Did you just happen to miss the entire point where I said that the people currently in charge of the government agencies and the biggest businesses in Russia are the same communists who used to run USSR 20 years ago???

Take it back a step and ask what caused the millions of starving people. Currently the causes are either a natural disaster with bandits taking power and preventing help from getting in, or severely mismanaged economy with too many barriers preventing people from get themselves out of poverty.

Meh, reading one or two EXTREMELY dull and boring 27 page business cases every day, because you have to if you want an understanding of the subject and a nice degree to go with it, is hard work too. Though most of the work performed is for staying awake and not zoning out.

That's true, but in New Orleans you don't have heavily armed war lords roaming the countryside and taking whatever food is donated. That's a whole other problem that needs to be dealt with...

The results were close to 50/50. It's quite better than that.


Few things. First, 22 years, after 70 years of oppressive rule that killed off anyone who was considered smart/intelligent, brainwashed the populace with propaganda, and killed anyone who dared to even attempt anything that resembled capitalism, isn't all that much. Second, everyone with any brains got the hell out of there as soon as they could (MASSIVE brain-drain in the late 80's and 90's), meaning most of those left are ones who were dumb enough not to know better, and preferred the socialist/communist system. Three, there are LOTS of people still living there, and outside of there, who remember the communist system quite well. 20 years means someone who is 30 still remembers it. And last, "presumptuous? LOL! I'm actually one of those "brain drains" and left in '89. So, no, I'm not "presuming," I remember what it was like, heard many stories from my grandparents and parents, and keep in touch with family members and friends who are still there. No presuming here.


You claim that in an unregulated free market, advertising will go through the roof. I'm pointing out that there is already a lot of advertising out there, but really not that much for products we do use, and you don't have to buy from overpriced companies who spend too much on advertising, since it's extremely easy to price shop.