I was interviewed about Bitcoin on more than 100 Radio stations! ~100K Listeners

[MemoryDealers]

------------------------UPDATE NOV 19th-----------------------
The full interview is now online at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZAFGRrp_kc

It was heard live by around 100,000 people.

I would not have had the knowledge to give this interview if it wasn't for all the great users on this forum.
Thank you all for your help!

A good next step for everyone is to visit www.freetalklive.com, take a look at their sponsors on the right hand side of the page,  see if any of them have something you want to buy,  and contact them to see if they will accept Bitcoins as payment.
If they agree,  please be sure to actually purchase the item from them.  This is a great way to get more shops to accept Bitcoin.


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On Saturday Nov 19th 2011,  at 7PM Eastern,
I will be interviewed about Bitcoin on www.freetalklive.com

It will air on more than 100 radio stations across the USA.
Station list here: http://www.freetalklive.com/affiliates

The show's audience is mainly libertarian, voluntarist, anti-war,  free market advocate types,  so I will need to emphasize the aspects of bitcoin that will appeal to them the most.

My current list of talking points for this group is:

1.  They allow anyone to have a "bank" account that CAN NOT be seized by the IRS.
2. If you are careful,  the IRS can't even know how much money you have in your account,  or that you even have an account at all!
3. They allow you to do business with whoever you want,  anywhere in the world, with complete privacy.
4. No one can block or seize your payments,  in fact,  you can even make your payments secret from everyone else in the world.
5. If you set it up properly,  no one can even track how much money you have earned, so potentially, you could report as much, or as little of it as you choose.
6. Bitcoins can not be counterfeited or inflated.  
7. They will end the government's control of the money supply.

In effect,  they will make paying most taxes voluntary. (in fact,  not necessarily in law)
If most taxes are voluntary,  and the money supply can not be inflated,  the government won't be able to fund its wars. (and other stupid things)
I suspect wars will be greatly reduced, if not eliminated if a Bitcoin like currency becomes used world wide..


The reasons it should be adopted by businesses are:

1.  There are no 3rd party fees.
2. There are no chargebacks or fraudulent orders.
3. There is no risk of identity theft.
4. Payments can not be blocked or controlled.
5. It can be used world wide,  with no need for currency exchange.
6. Anyone can accept Bitcoin payments in a matter of minutes.
7.  As a business owner, I know how incredibly happy I would be if all my customers paid with a form of money with the above properties.

Neat things you can do with Bitcoins:

Get a prepaid Mastercard that can be reloaded with Bitcoins any time through OKPAY.COM
Donate to Wikileaks.
Play poker online for money despite the government's prohibition.
Buy other prohibited items online.  (Silkroad etc)

Please let me know what other things I should mention durring the interview.
What do you think I should say to catch people's attention?

Any input, thoughts, criticism, or other ideas are welcome.

[1714093342]

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[ThomasV]

nice!

They allow ...

who is "they" ? it sounds a little bit as if Bitcoin was an organisation

[MemoryDealers]

nice!

They allow ...

who is "they" ? it sounds a little bit as if Bitcoin was an organisation

"They" is referring to Bitcoins themselves.

[ssaCEO]

I think this is a great list, and it's so important to get these benefits out there to people in lay terms without any of the "how it works" and technocrypto stuff getting in the way.

It might be nice to mention that you can cross borders with $100k in coins tucked away in a hidden partition on a memory stick -- or even just as a minified private key written in ballpoint ink on a part of your body they won't search. It's always been easy for politicians with private jets to take a suitcase full of cash to Switzerland or the Bahamas, but the average passenger will get questioned for bringing more than $1000 in cash even on a domestic flight, and no one can travel with more than $10k internationally without declaring it.

[epetroel]

Even though it's true, I don't much like the idea of emphasizing the "shady" properties of bitcoin (tax dodging, money laundering, purchasing illegal drugs, etc.)

Doing so just seems like it would just invite the wrong kind of attention from the government, and gives them fuel with which to go after bitcoin.  Not that there's much interest from political types at this point, but I could see them a few years down the road pointing to this interview and saying "see, it's a tool for tax dodgers and criminals, even it's proponents admit it!"

Seems bitcoin has enough other positive properties (non-reversible, anonymous, worldwide, etc.) that emphasizing the illegal uses isn't really necessary.

[deepceleron]

This illustrates a strange facet of Bitcoin, whereas the credit card companies and PayPal can send their CEO, there are few experts that have legitimacy beyond "self-proclaimed", due to the non-organizational nature of Bitcoin itself, and that nobody is looking to take money out of your pocket by advocating your use of Bitcoin. What its users say about Bitcoin can reflect on their own attitudes.

It is not an IRS tax dodge (corporations have figured what that really means a long time ago). To not declare your income is advocating lawbreaking, and Bitcoin, like any other currency, can of course be used for illegal activity, no differently than paying your illegal labor in undeclared cash or buying drugs with dollars or stolen TVs.

It is a new international currency that is independently valued and includes its own instant transfer method over the Internet, unfettered by banks. It will not magically debase nation-state currency, however, it is an exercise in what currency transfer can look like without the banks or middlemen, credit scores, merchant fees, contracts, frozen accounts, or anyone else telling you how you should use your money. There is no "credit card fraud" as the owner of the Bitcoins has complete control and only he has the cryptographic keys required to send money. I can transfer my Bitcoins for goods or services, and merchants or individuals providing services can likewise re-spend those Bitcoins, as it is a real economy unto itself. It also is uncounterfeitable, irrevocable, and doesn't have disputes or chargebacks, so you can be certain when you have been paid in Bitcoins you won't be losing out later.

Whereas governments can print more money as they see fit, devaluing personal savings and causing inflation, Bitcoin has a fixed rate of production and a maximum number that will be produced, in a mining process that rewards computer processing power,similar to the way that the world's gold is limited and mining it becomes harder. The currency is not scarce like gold, though, as it can be divided down to eight decimal points, enough for the whole world population to each have 20 million of the base currency units.

It is completely supported by a network of tens of thousands of other users, who use the software to transmit user transfers and account balances to all other users, and who verify that transactions are legitimate and un-forged by securing the record of all past transactions with a cryptographic authentication method that currently involves more computer power than the top 100 supercomputers combined.

It has immediate obvious use a a payment method for web services such as online game economies, auction sites, retail sites, gambling sites, and, just like the Internet itself, has no geographic boundaries. It also can be used in person, as there are varied people that will trade goods (or even your lunch) in person for bitcoins or even trade you dollars for it.

[Gabi]

Nice, but focusing on it as a way to avoid taxes can make people have the wrong expectations about bitcoin

Try to focus a bit more on the easy of use, you can sell everything everywhere and get paid instantly and then buy something instantly. If you are a gamer and you play mmo for example you can sell golds for bitcoins and use them to buy other games (Battlefield 3 for example, is awesome) for bitcoins.

[cbeast]

Even though it's true, I don't much like the idea of emphasizing the "shady" properties of bitcoin (tax dodging, money laundering, purchasing illegal drugs, etc.)

Doing so just seems like it would just invite the wrong kind of attention from the government, and gives them fuel with which to go after bitcoin.  Not that there's much interest from political types at this point, but I could see them a few years down the road pointing to this interview and saying "see, it's a tool for tax dodgers and criminals, even it's proponents admit it!"

Seems bitcoin has enough other positive properties (non-reversible, anonymous, worldwide, etc.) that emphasizing the illegal uses isn't really necessary.

Nice, but focusing on it as a way to avoid taxes can make people have the wrong expectations about bitcoin

Try to focus a bit more on the easy of use, you can sell everything everywhere and get paid instantly and then buy something instantly. If you are a gamer and you play mmo for example you can sell golds for bitcoins and use them to buy other games (Battlefield 3 for example, is awesome) for bitcoins.

I would like to add that some people disagree with the complete anonymity issue of Bitcoin. In fact, it is possible to create an economic structure using current Bitcoin protocols in ways that make it reasonably traceable by law enforcement while still maintaining privacy for users.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Since MemoryDealers' interview is tomorrow, let's use the rest of today to critique his 7 talking points and 7 reasons for adaptation. Having them numbered would make them easy to do such. Simply state which numbered bullet point should not be mentioned and which one should be more focused upon. Any suggestions we offer up should also be numbered--8; 9; 10; etc.--for easier referencing. MemoryDealers should stay on this thread most of today so that tomorrow he'll be less prone to trip over himself during the interview. I further suggest, MD, getting plenty of rest tonight so that you're fresh in the morning, therefore state what you're cutoff time for calling it a night.

I post this because this could be to much of an opportunity for Bitcoin to get it effed-up. We (this community) should devote as much time on this today to help MD with his request for input. This may be the only post I'll offer up on this tread today, for I've be to busy in the field and I'm not as bright as some of you other folks here to aid in his TP request, short of short positive/directional asides.

That said, good luck with the interview tomorrow, MD.

For those not able to listen to it live, I hope there's a link to the recording of it somewhere. I'd love to here it.

Bruno

[Cryptoman]

I would downplay the whole IRS thing.  Just tell the listeners that Bitcoin, if set up properly, can provide financial privacy.  If the listeners are liberty advocates, they will understand the implications.

[BadBear]

I agree with everyone else, you are playing up the illegal aspects too much.  Focus more on what bitcoin is and how its different from fiat currencies, people who care about that kinda stuff will see the implications.  People who don't care will get the wrong idea and be turned off by it. 

[nmat]

My personal view of Bitcoin is different from this, but this is probably related to my political opinions, which are not worth discussing.

For me, Bitcoin is a non-proprietary easy way of sending money over the Internet to anyone the world. It's important that they can't be counterfeited and I like the fact that they are not controlled by a single company, but I don't agree with the most of your points. I think that people should pay taxes and Bitcoin is not an excuse for tax evasion. And ideas like "in 10 years the government will have no control over money because Bitcons will rule the world" are complete non-sense to me. But of course that I respect your opinion and those points will probably please the listeners.

[Shuai]

Government would still be able to collect as much revenue through taxes as before, if bitcoin was the only currency in use. Basically they would just have to utilize only VAT tax and land tax for all of their tax revenue, by adjusting these two taxes (that are close to impossible to dodge) tax revenues could end up being exactly the same as before.

The only reason why government wouldn't like this kind tax system is because, as mentioned, tax dodging would be difficult no matter who you are, so oligarchic and corporate interest groups would suddenly have to follow the same rules as everyone else.

[kwukduck]

Yea don't focus on the 'shady' side, just put it out as a form of 'free' money. (as in free speech...)
Everybody can reason that anything can be used in both good and bad ways, thats not a bitcoin issue at all.

[Steve]

I would suggest avoiding talking about tax evasion (or "voluntary taxation), money laundering, buying illegal drugs, or using it to purchase anything illegal.  Talk about "privacy" instead of "anonymity" (which is really the same thing but has a more sinister sounding tone).  If you talk about transaction and asset privacy, anyone interested in such things will put 2+2 together and you don't have to give the banks/gov't any sound bytes to use against bitcoin.  

Talk about how the founders of the US likely never imagined a scenario where privacy in financial dealings was effectively impossible, and yet eCommerce has brought about just such a scenario.  Had the founders had such fore sight, they likely would have put provisions in the US constitution to protect financial privacy rights.  

Mention how bitcoin can help impose fiscal discipline on politicians by competing with national currencies.  In the long run, that makes our economies healthier and stronger (which eliminates a big precipitant for war).  Gold as an alternative currency serves that role in theory, but due to the inconvenience of actually using gold, we've developed these debt backed fiat currencies that always ultimately lead to over indebtedness, financial ruin, and war.  The fiat system requires an ever expanding money supply to provide the money needed for repaying debts…and because new money is only issued with debt backing, by extension, the system requires an ever expanding credit.  Needless to say that in such a system, you'll periodically find yourself at a point where debt is over-extended and consequently on the verge of system collapse…and at the very least, extreme and disorderly deleveraging.  With bitcoin you would have less dramatic swings of expansion and contraction of credit because debt is not at the foundation of the system.

Talk about how money is information.  Talk about how it's money designed for the Internet age.  Talk about how all other methods of online transactions require third party involvement.  Talk about how credit cards were designed in the 1950's and ACH in 1972…these technologies are old and could never have anticipated the digitally interconnected we live in today.

Lay out the case where, given the unique properties of bitcoin, it really could serve as the basis of a new, Internet era, financial system.  Make bitcoin synonymous with the future.

[btc_artist]

1.  They allow anyone to have a "bank" account that CAN NOT be seized by the IRS.
2. If you are careful,  the IRS can't even know how much money you have in your account,  or that you even have an account at all!

In effect,  they will make paying most taxes voluntary. (in fact,  not necessarily in law)

Please don't advocate tax evasion.  Simply state that you can achieve certain levels of financial privacy with Bitcoin.

3. They allow you to do business with whoever you want,  anywhere in the world, with complete privacy.

By default, Bitcoin is NOT private. But if you're very careful (maintain separate wallets, not send transactions from your IP, etc) you can achieve certain levels of privacy.  Hopefully Bitcoin will become more private in the future.  See this thread about tracking transactions: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=24784.0, and this post about forwarding transactions https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50282.msg603865#msg603865

5. If you set it up properly,  no one can even track how much money you have earned, so potentially, you could report as much, or as little of it as you choose.

Again, please don't advocate tax evasion. Also, you have to go to a lot of work (patching the client, using nonstandard tools, running behind tor) to actually have some semblance of privacy.

1.  There are no 3rd party fees.

There are no 3rd party/centralized fees, but there can be small fees imposed by the "official" bitcoin client depending on certain factors. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_fees

Play poker online for money despite the government's prohibition.
Buy other prohibited items online.  (Silkroad etc)

Again, please don't advocate illegal activities.

[evoorhees]

Awesome Roger, can't wait to hear it!

Roger forgets to mention that not only is it on 100 radio stations around the US, but it's also a very popular Podcast, routinely ranking high in the charts. This also means any of you who want to hear Roger's interview tomorrow can download the Podcast via iTunes (just search for Free Talk Live)

[proudhon]

1.  They allow anyone to have a "bank" account that CAN NOT be seized by the IRS.

I think you mean 'cannot'.

[adamstgBit]

7. They will end the government's control of the money supply.

I think we should stay away from points that are speculative.

this sounds like a grandiose claim made by a FAN
stick to the facts

at best you could say

7. We hope, They will end the government's control of the money supply.

1.  They allow anyone to have a "bank" account that CAN NOT be seized by the IRS.
2. If you are careful,  the IRS can't even know how much money you have in your account,  or that you even have an account at all!
3. They allow you to do business with whoever you want,  anywhere in the world, with complete privacy.
4. No one can block or seize your payments,  in fact,  you can even make your payments secret from everyone else in the world.
5. If you set it up properly,  no one can even track how much money you have earned, so potentially, you could report as much, or as little of it as you choose.
6. Bitcoins can not be counterfeited or inflated.
7. We hope,They will end the government's control of the money supply.

this list all seems to revolve around one point, the last point

consider only saying #7 and leaving it at that, if the radio host asks you what you mean, use the other points.




something interesting to look at
the 1997 Digialt cash proposal. http://www.simovits.com/archive/dcash.pdf

notice it been a long time people have though of make something like bitcoin... but all their ideas needed the bank to work with them, this is why all their ideas failed, and why bitcoin took off.

[btc_artist]

7. We hope, They will end the government's control of the money supply.

In the future, this may be able to limit the government's control of the money supply.

FTFY.