2012-10-08 lfb.org/businessinsider.com - Paper Money = Despotism

[julz]

single mention

Paper Money = Despotism

Wendy McElroy ( Author, lecturer, and freelance writer, and a senior associate of the Laissez Faire Club.)
2012-10-08

http://lfb.org/today/paper-money-despotism/
http://www.businessinsider.com/paper-money--despotism-2012-10

...
Thus, the “undocumented” are effectively barred from the monetary transactions that are part of everyday life. By contrast, counterculture financial institutions often require little more than a username and a password to deposit funds. No wonder some politicians are pushing agencies like Bitcoin to open up their data to close government scrutiny.
...

Well I haven't heard Bitcoin described as an 'agency' before... I guess it makes sense in a way.

[Foxpup]

Exactly which politicians are pushing for Bitcoin to "open up its data", and do they realise how silly they look when not only is all the data (both the code and the transaction database) already completely open to "close government scrutiny", but being so open to scrutiny is precisely the entire point of Bitcoin (since that's how it prevents fraud without relying on trusted third parties)?

[julz]

Yeah, I can only guess they (these mysterious 'some politicians') mean the various businesses that use Bitcoin, in particular exchanges... or at least, that's what they'd mean if they knew what they meant.

[Gabi]

Lol, pushing for bitcoin to open up it's data is like going near an ingot of gold and telling him "you! open up your data now!"

[Severian]

In his classic book The Theory of Money and Credit (1912), the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises argues, “It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically, it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of rights.”

Mises described one of our favorite protocols 100 years before the fact.

[Wekkel]

In his classic book The Theory of Money and Credit (1912), the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises argues, “It is impossible to grasp the meaning of the idea of sound money if one does not realize that it was devised as an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. Ideologically, it belongs in the same class with political constitutions and bills of rights.”

Mises described one of our favorite protocols 100 years before the fact.

Sometimes, great ideas are way ahead of their time.