Why do you make it sound like a bad thing? And who cares about Jimmy Wales and his political view, anyway? What does it have to do with bitcoin?

What I object to is that you are pretending to be helpful, but you are really just trying to make money from the clicks.

Here is how much a person gets from visiting those sites:

 0.0050BTC http://freebitcoins.appspot.com
 0.0001BTC http://oscry.com
 0.0001BTC http://dailybitcoins.org
 0.0001BTC http://www.coinad.com

That's a total of 0.0053BTC or $0.05. Sorry, it wasn't worth a nickel to visit those sites, especially because I can't do anything with only 0.0053BTC. Anyway, if someone wants get some free BTC, albeit a trivial amount, they should go only to http://freebitcoins.appspot.com (and directly from this link). It is not an ad site like the others, and their payouts are comparatively insignificant.

I have looked at many of the mining securities that are offered on GLBSE and none of them account for depreciation of the hardware. I see that as a problem. As the rig gets older, its value (and therefore the value of the mining company) goes down, and this information is hidden from the shareholders. For example, if a mining company decides to liquidate, shareholders will lose because the hardware has lost most of its value. Depreciation will offset that loss.

In case you don't know what depreciation means, it means that the company subtracts a small portion of the value of the hardware from the revenue each week. The benefit is that shareholders have a better idea of how much the company is worth, and they will get the book value of their shares if a company decides to liquidate. It also allows the company to upgrade its rig without having to sell more shares. That is how a business normally operates.

Here's why it is a good idea:

The value of the hardware goes down as it gets older. After a few years, a company probably won't be able to sell its hardware for very much, so its value will be close to $0. If the company liquidates, its shareholders will get nothing for their shares because the hardware (and therefore the company) has no value. That possibility makes  shareholders nervous. However, if the company depreciates the value of the hardware, then as the hardware's value goes down the value of the depreciation goes up by the same amount. As a result, the total value of the company's assets (hardware + cash from depreciation) always stays the same.

Also, it is perfectly legitimate to use the cash from depreciation to upgrade a company's rig. This is because the value of the hardware will go up and the total value of its assets (hardware + cash from depreciation) will stay the same. Of course the company has to depreciate the upgrades, too. The benefit is that the company doesn't have to sell more shares to upgrade its rig.

Here is how it works:

When a company buys some hardware, it figures how much it would cost each week to pay for that hardware over 3 years. Then it deducts that amount from the revenue each weekly dividend for 3 years. It must track the cash from depreciation and the value of the hardware because they are part of the value of the company. For example,  a company buys FPGAs for 1000 BTC. If it depreciates the value over 3 years (156 weeks), then it deducts 6.41 BTC from the weekly revenue to account for the loss in the value of the FPGAs. In a few years, those FPGAs are going to be worthless, but the company will still have value because it has cash instead.

In summary, the benefits are:

• It improves the stability and legitimacy of the company and its securities (and of GLBSE and bitcoin, in general).
• It increases the value of the company even though dividends are slightly lower. Please note that people are willing to accept slightly lower dividends for more accurate information.
• It provides a source of money for upgrading equipment.

The drawback is more paperwork: the company has to keep track of and report this stuff.

I have used Dwolla in the past successfully and the only problem was that it took a week to get money in and out. Recently they insisted that I send them a scan of my drivers license. I chose to close my account instead.

In my view, regardless if BTCS&T is a ponzi scheme or not -- BTCS&T and the various PPT bonds are bad for bitcoin.

First: the 7% weekly return is going to kill mining bonds. They can't compete with that rate. More and more bitcoin investment is going to go into these pirate bonds and miners will no longer have the capital necessary to improve their hardware and remain competitive. Perhaps this is pirateat40's plan?

Second: There is no legitimate way for a business to make a profit while paying a weekly interest of 7%. Pirateat40 must be engaged in something illegitimate (at best), though it is more likely to be something illegal, if not a ponzi scheme. Whatever it is, it can only be bad for bitcoin, and the bigger his operation gets, the worse the outcome will be. Don't support his activities.

So, I implore everyone to ratchet down their greed a little. For the good of bitcoin, please settle for 2%-3% per week, avoiding the pirate bonds even if they pay twice that. You will still get a great return -- 2%-3% per week is ridiculous in real-world terms (long-term Treasury bonds pay only the equivalent of 0.05% per week).