I thought so too at first but this is not quite right?  Sure, the amount of MtGox codes has gone up.. but the amount of verifiable bitcoins has not..  there are still only 1000 verifiable bitcoins no matter how they have changed hands.  So yes, fractional reserve banking can be practiced with bitcoin in the same way in which it was for gold.   

Thanks for your answer.

However when they say it is  "usually referenced" it doesn't really answer my question.  What happened on that day that was written about using both calendars? 

 

You're not serious I hope. 
Here's some JS from your site:
 
      // snip ... 
      this.mayaday=Math.round(this.modSeconds);
      this.mayaday/=86400;
      this.mayaday+=2440588;
      this.mayaday=Math.floor(this.mayaday);
      this.mayaday-=584285;


Tell me where those integers come from please. 
You very much need an agreed upon event (such that we know the date of the event in both calendars) to synch them. 

Sure, it takes math to convert temperature from C to F also, but i you didn't know that 0C = 32F or 100C = 212F?   

First of all, we can't "live off bitcoins".  We live off the land.  Period.  Give a moment's respect to food and water.
So presumably, the OP means to ask: "Would you pay taxes if you could live using bitcoins as your only currency for transactions"?  

The obvious answer is YES, lets list two of the taxes you will BY DEINITION be paying:

1)  transaction costs (you WILL pay a fee to miners if you are in fact using your biticoin currency)
2)  monetary inflation tax (new blocks get new currency.. this is another effective tax you are paying to miners)

Lets consider some other taxes you are LIKELY to pay:

1)  any kind of tax a more heavily armed person than yourself imposes on you
2)  voluntary taxes

There are countless forms of these taxes, obviously we all like #2 (at least enough to volunteer funds), and #1 some of us like and others dislike.

Local tax collectors will let you pay your debts with bitcoin soon.    

 
 

Deflation?  You mean deflation of the money supply?  Sounds unlikely, at least it sure would be unlikely if I had the keys to the printing presses   OK perhaps deflation of that money supply which is drawn on by to the primary purchasers of gasoline, but even that I find difficult to believe. 

Much more likely in my opinion:  price fixing and backroom decisions based on political and generally boring goals (making some extremely rich people even richer).  The major public players in this market are the Pentagon, OPEC, Rockefellers.  Most likely there are some other major players I don't know about. 

If free market microeconomics dominate control of the price of gasoline, can you explain to me the price discrepancy between different European nations (E.g. Germany and Switzerland), between different American nations (e.g. between Venezuela and USA), or between different middle eastern or Asian gas stations?     

Which events are used to calibrate the calendar, i.e. synch it with our own so that we can convert 13.1.1.1.1 to Nov 1, 2011 (as some said) or other Julian calendar day? 

KJV Rev. 13

16    And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17    and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18    Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Why?  PTSD?   

1) The block chain is a rainbow table of SHA2 hashes (though I can't see why this material would be useful)
2) Block chain currencies are botnet honeypots

Other than that, unless you are willing to go for some organizations having secretly broken ECDSA and/or SHA256, you are going to have to go with what check_status said, looking for pools or compromised pools for your "second purpose". 

Stay safe -   

In theory, yes, however in practice mostly the payments are made through third party agreements.  See your question 2.


Yes, these insurance companies are for profit.  In fact their profit margins are consistently one of the largest in any business.


Some are privately owned, some are public companies.  I'm not aware of any owned by governments directly, but there may be a few coops around.  

 

Yes you can.  These guys get close to 20% of GDP (largest health care costs in the world are in USA).  Valuations already reflect that.  Check out Berkshire Hathaway's holdings, apparently Warren Buffet has thought health sector was oversold and was moving out of it a bit.  


Good luck with that.  Most of the big decisions are behind closed doors and very political, I have very little idea all the players involved.  You might be interested in this article however:

http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2012-06/leveraged-etfs-for-the-obamacare-ruling.aspx?storyid=151336

i think demurrage is an interesting idea and has its place, but in lieu of a real response i will post this  

http://www.theonion.com/video/internet-scam-alert-most-kickstarter-projects-just,28655/

So, we have a system where some individuals are declared by other individuals as "legal", and others as "illegal" irregardless of any behavior of said individuals? 

As I understand it some people are "legal", others, sorry they are OK for slave trade and to help let out aggressions of idiots and fascists and further the progression of said idiots' mental illness which seeks to ensure their children are even more unhappy then they are. 

One way to deal with this kind of epidemic mental illness is to identify it and keep it from afflicting you.  No person is illegal.  All men are created equal.  Act accordingly.

 

+1 

Maybe it would make more sense to back gold with bitcoins  

Please say more.  How does bitcoin provide any kind of different tax haven then paper money already did? 

+10000

hopefully we can run a virtual card on our phones / laptops to help the mesh grow

Funny thing is they probably think the same thing about you    

Thanks for your replies.  It is helpful to hear the mindset from somebody who truly believes in prohibition as a potential help to society (I take that at face value).

So often the prohibitionists are the ones motivated by corruption, short term personal wealth, or fear, and represent the height of hyposcrisy, and so such a voice as you present is unusual so thanks again for your posts.

As you probably know from the history of drug prohibition, it is usually created as a policy for other political ends, e.g. prison investors who want more customers, cocaine dealers who want competition eliminated and profits increased, foreign invaders who wish to imprison certain segments of the population and control markets, as a mean to eliminate competing medicines or raw materials, etc. etc.  

Your point about previous prohibitions and decriminalizations is well taken: while anecdotal evidence may be overwhelming to suggest that lifting prohibition immediately decreases violence and benefits society immensely these are not controlled experiments, and harm from the prohibited substances was not eliminated.  One cannot point to this as "proof".

Consider instead a purchase you have made in the last few days.  Now imagine that I claim this contains "poison" and suggest that you be arrested, comparing your purchase to murder or child porn.  Ridiculous?  Yes.  Angry?  Yes.  Guess what.  It doesn't matter.  My argument that the plastic, the carbon released, the addictive nature of the behavior it spawns, might be right or wrong, but in the end it doesn't matter because when the police come to your house they don't care if the plastic was really bad, or even if you really made that purchase!  

You may think it is OK that they go after the nicotine users, rip apart their families, and steal their posessions, because you are not a nicotine user.  But in the end, when you or your children are facing uniformed young men with weapons, your cries that you are "not a user" will be treated the same way as cries of women in who said "we are not witches" or germans who said "we are not jews".  They will be ignored, and then you will join the again increasingly large segment of society who are victims of fascism.  And you will be able to do nothing, because you didn't stand up against it when you had the chance.  

Best of luck to you -    


  

Subcommittee Hearing "The Federal Reserve System: Mend It or End It?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU3ygeQUv_4

Exactly my point thanks.  Putting 3 million people in jail as political prisoners (thats what you call it when there is no victim) makes things worse as you say, and costs a lot.  The people who suffer are often the children and families as you point out.   

I can see people have ganged up on you here so I'll cut it short.  You said at one point you like to help your fellow man.  And yet you are also saying we should arrest people for consensual adult behavior, in which no victim has come forth to complain, and punish them harshly.  Don't you see the contradiction?  Do you see two satisfied people who have done business together with no complaints and this reminds you of child porn or murder?  I hope not. 

You seem to have the need to point out that drugs are dangerous.  That is -my- point.  Of course they are.  Too dangerous to leave in the hands of criminals.  Prohibition makes them still more dangerous and eliminates our ability to regulate, put age limits, quality limits, volume limits, etc. 

Do you really want to help your fellow man, or would you rather see your fellow man locked up, families broken up, and corrupt politicians and drug dealers running your prison?