Thomas Jefferson would have loved Bitcoin!

[BitChick]

I was looking up some quotes from some US "founding fathers" and found some really interesting ones from Thomas Jefferson.  He would have loved Bitcoin for sure!

Here are some I found:

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
    Thomas Jefferson, (Attributed)
    3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)  

"The eyes of our citizens are not sufficiently open to the true cause of
our distress. They ascribe them to everything but their true cause: the
banking system... a system which if it could do good in any form is yet
so certain of leading to abuse as to be utterly incompatible with the
public safety and prosperity."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Paper is poverty,... it is only the ghost of money, and not money
itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788.

"The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation
doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States
by the Constitution. They are not among the powers specially
enumerated." --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on Bank, 1791.

"If the debt which the banking companies owe be a blessing to anybody,
it is to themselves alone, who are realizing a solid interest of eight
or ten per cent on it. As to the public, these companies have banished
all our gold and silver medium, which, before their institution, we had
without interest, which never could have perished in our hands, and
would have been our salvation now in the hour of war; instead of which
they have given us two hundred million of froth and bubble, on which we
are to pay them heavy interest, until it shall vanish into air... We are
warranted, then, in affirming that this parody on the principle of 'a
public debt being a public blessing,' and its mutation into the blessing
of private instead of public debts, is as ridiculous as the original
principle itself. In both cases, the truth is, that capital may be
produced by industry, and accumulated by economy; but jugglers only will
propose to create it by legerdemain tricks with paper." --Thomas
Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813.

[vokain]

I like this one a lot There's a lot of coverage on why Thomas Jefferson was so vehemently against private central banks

All Wars are Bankers' Wars

[BitChick]

Very enlightening video.  It is a bit depressing though.  I guess it just shows us how things have not changed much, unfortunately.

It is a bit disconcerting thinking about what may happen.  I guess I am surprised the banks are not fighting BTC more then they already are? I suppose they do not see it as a very big threat yet?

[vokain]

Very enlightening video.  It is a bit depressing though.  I guess it just shows us how things have not changed much, unfortunately.

It is a bit disconcerting thinking about what may happen.  I guess I am surprised the banks are not fighting BTC more then they already are? I suppose they do not see it as a very big threat yet?

It's because bit by bit they're losing control, I imagine. The sooner we agree not to do it their way, the quicker things change. The more and more people have to suffer,  the greater the effect that game theory (via streissand effect) exposes the scheme with the spread of ideas via technology in this day and age.

[legitnick]

I was looking up some quotes from some US "founding fathers" and found some really interesting ones from Thomas Jefferson.  He would have loved Bitcoin for sure!

Here are some I found:

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
    Thomas Jefferson, (Attributed)
    3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)  

"The eyes of our citizens are not sufficiently open to the true cause of
our distress. They ascribe them to everything but their true cause: the
banking system... a system which if it could do good in any form is yet
so certain of leading to abuse as to be utterly incompatible with the
public safety and prosperity."
- Thomas Jefferson

"Paper is poverty,... it is only the ghost of money, and not money
itself." --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788.

"The incorporation of a bank and the powers assumed [by legislation
doing so] have not, in my opinion, been delegated to the United States
by the Constitution. They are not among the powers specially
enumerated." --Thomas Jefferson: Opinion on Bank, 1791.

"If the debt which the banking companies owe be a blessing to anybody,
it is to themselves alone, who are realizing a solid interest of eight
or ten per cent on it. As to the public, these companies have banished
all our gold and silver medium, which, before their institution, we had
without interest, which never could have perished in our hands, and
would have been our salvation now in the hour of war; instead of which
they have given us two hundred million of froth and bubble, on which we
are to pay them heavy interest, until it shall vanish into air... We are
warranted, then, in affirming that this parody on the principle of 'a
public debt being a public blessing,' and its mutation into the blessing
of private instead of public debts, is as ridiculous as the original
principle itself. In both cases, the truth is, that capital may be
produced by industry, and accumulated by economy; but jugglers only will
propose to create it by legerdemain tricks with paper." --Thomas
Jefferson to John W. Eppes, 1813.

Great finds, with some awesome information, thanks!

[bluemeanie1]

there was a period of American history where the Federal Government did not regulate banking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_banking

Wildcat banking refers to the unusual practices of banks chartered under state law during the periods of non-federally regulated state banking between 1816 and 1863 in the United States, also known as the Free Banking Era. This era, commonly described as an example of free banking, was not a period of true free banking, as banks were free of only federal regulation; banking was regulated by the states. The actual regulation of banking during this period varied from state to state.

Jefferson was against central banking, but Andrew Jackson was perhaps the strongest opponent of a federal bank during that period.

[herzmeister]

vehemently against private central banks

MtGox et al are pretty private central banks.

[AliceWonder]

vehemently against private central banks

MtGox et al are pretty private central banks.

Which is why you should only use them (any of them) only for their exchange services and keep the currency you are saving / using in a local wallet.