It's not Trump's fault anyway. Not really. Yes he should have made gov spending cuts a priority and he didn't, and he did sign a massive spending bill, but he doesn't make the bills. He's not the career politician that's been in elected office for the last 47 years that has overseen this slow motion train wreck of an economy.

He's not the career politician that's been in elected office for the last 47 years

Maybe that should be 57 years since LBJ took over after JFK was shot in Dallas in November 1963.

Trump's main problem is that he did not eliminate the Deep State or try harder to foil the Dims work at impeaching him. He let it play out. But as soon as the House brings up impeachment, all other business is put on hold. And that by itself was a big train wreck. ;)

We need a non-interest bearing currency like Lincoln's Greenbacks.

Trump's main problem is that he did not eliminate the Deep State or try harder to foil the Dims work at impeaching him. He let it play out.

Agree completely. Trump never really drained the swamp. If he can pull of a 2020 win, however, I think heads will roll because now he has to see it. He has to.

But as soon as the House brings up impeachment, all other business is put on hold. And that by itself was a big train wreck. ;)

The D's have been stonewalling him anyway, impeachment or no impeachment. Things ground to a halt when the D's took the house in 2018.

We need a non-interest bearing currency like Lincoln's Greenbacks.

We have that now in free market crypto.

But unlike gold, there's no reason, or at least need, for people to deposit it at a bank. People did that with gold and silver for security's sake but there's no similar incentive for that with crypto.

But unlike gold

China has been accumulating as much gold as possible and is planning to release a 20% gold backed Yuan. If this happens, the U.S. Dollar will crumble into dust since it is only backed by promises to pay. :-/

Lots of crypto has been stolen.

Lots of cash has been stolen too.

Yes, security is an issue. Most of the big hacks have involved exchanges which need to improve security, and in fact there have not been any hacks recently. But those hacks have not undermined the price which is what might be expected if the market saw the hacks as fatal to crypto.

Paypal recently did an about face on it, now not only permitting the purchase of crypto but holding it for customers and allowing it to be spent. In effect, PP is vying to become a bitcoin bank.

Iran announced a couple months ago it would be offering bitcoin for imported goods. This is to circumvent US sanctions that does not permit use of the standard banking system controlled by the US. If/when they announce they would accept bitcoin for oil, then that will be big as well.

Crypto offers advantages over conventional fiat and it's acceptance is growing now.

Bitcoin as of today is now over 19,000, very close to its all time high set 3 years ago. Institutional investors are taking note, and again, free market crypto (not all crypto is free market) cannot be printed into oblivion as the dollar can be. So it has advantages.

One big whale is putting billions of dollars into Bitcoin and driving up the price.

Maybe, but it's been going up pretty steadily over the past 2 weeks. It seems to be responding to more certainty, or the appearance thereof, of Biden winning. And it's not just bitcoin. All major cryptos have been going up in a remarkable fashion in the past 4 days or so. Some in the range of 50%.

I am biased against cryptos. I want gold or silver.

Gold and silver are good. But they really don't work well as a currency in a digital age. Crypto is not tangible as G & S are, but is extremely fluid and extremely divisible. And it's also virtually immune to government sanctions, controls and monitoring.

I understand not trusting crypto. It does take getting used to. But it can take down the whole central banking system which G & S cannot do. It is the means by which economic freedom will be restored to We The People.

It is the means by which economic freedom will be restored to We The People.

Please explain what you mean by economic freedom being restored? Restored to what? When did this freedom last obtain?

Freedom to trade with whom we please? Free of taxation on transactions (including inheritance)? Free from confiscation by government? Privacy? Freedom from the effect of gov-induced inflation?

I'm not asking for a book, just some basics, please. Thanks.

Freedom to trade with whom we please? Free of taxation on transactions (including inheritance)? Free from confiscation by government? Privacy? Freedom from the effect of gov-induced inflation?

Answering those 5 questions in respective order: Yes, yes, yes, yes & yes.

At least they can all be had. Transactions can be made directly from one person to another, anywhere on the planet. There are no middle man banks for transactions to go through that can interfere with it, there are no political boundaries that are applicable for gov restrictions to interfere with, such as paying someone in Iran.

Taxation of crytpo transactions can only occur if the transaction can be tracked. Now with bitcoin, transactions are anonymous but still trackable. That is, you can see all transactions ever made in history, but you cannot tell the identity of the persons sending and receiving the funds unless that party discloses their identity in some way, such as publishing a crypto address of a wallet they control to which payments can be sent.

However, that is bitcoin and other cryptos obfuscate even that, so yes, transaction can be completely private and if they are completely private, they cannot be taxed. So that addresses the privacy question too. Govs will have to return to taxing either real estate property or physical goods entering the country, just like they used to.

Confiscation: As the funds are only accessible by a person having the wallet key instead of a 3rd party such as a bank, the only way confiscation can occur is if that individual consents or otherwise fails to keep that key secure. And with crypto, memorization is possible. The gov has no power even to disable the person's crypto key such that it can no longer work, which can obviously be done with any credit or debit card.

Inflation: There are 2 types of cryptos. One is a free market minable crypto which Bitcoin is. Bitcoin can be created and only created, through consumption of computing power so unlike contemporary fiat, additional money cannot be created out of nothing at will. Therefore the supply remains limited. In that way, crypto is similar to gold and silver which only comes into existence through physical mining, and it will only be mined when it is economical to do so. So yes, it's immune to inflation at will by central banking.

The other kind of crypto is centrally issued without mining. I call those tokens and they can be created at will, and their value therefore hinges on the trustworthiness of the issuing entity. Those most certainly can be inflated. But there are many cryptos and the best are decentralized.

Thanks much for working with we luddites by explaining crypto.

I still don't "get it", but is there any place to buy crypto, do nothing, and watch it increase in value automatically? like a passive crypto?

it's also virtually immune to government sanctions, controls and monitoring

I heard that China and Brazil put controls on Bitcoin recently and caused a 20% drop in price. I think that happened a couple years back. ;)

the stupidity, the fraud and the wars.

Loads of stupidity and fraud going around. Both are abundant, especially the fraud.

But was is the health of the state and is evidenced by the military industrial complex that Ike warned us about.

Trump also apparently has ended the war in Afghanistan which is America's longest war.

It makes one wonder why the U.S. was there in the first place. And that reason is so they could take out the Pakistani nukes if they became more unreasonable. ;)

It makes one wonder why the U.S. was there in the first place.

The US troop presence in Afghanistan was reportedly connected to the poppy trade, as I recall.

I still don't "get it", but is there any place to buy crypto, do nothing, and watch it increase in value automatically? like a passive crypto?

Absolutely, that can be done. Binance.com offers crypto sales with a CC. at a rate that I think is pretty good, about 1.8% of the value of crypto you buy. So if you spend $1000, you get about $980 worth of bitcoin.

To get in on it you have to learn some things about crypto: The basics of how it works so you understand what's going on with transactions and generally "get it", but also you have to learn about security so you keep your crypto safe, both from hacking and from losing it, which means forgetting your security key. I can help with that.

But yes, you can simply buy some crytpo, put it in your wallet and then not do anything with it for years. As long as you have the procedure for accessing it again, years later, you're good to go. But whaht some people do is just buy a fixed dollar amount every month or so, however much that comes to and build a reserve like that. That's a good way to deal with the strong price fluctuations.

I heard that China and Brazil put controls on Bitcoin recently and caused a 20% drop in price. I think that happened a couple years back. ;)

There have been restrictions within countries to both mine bitcoin and also to purchase it. In India, commercial online services are not legal to facilitate sales. That is, they restricted how CC's and such can be used because that's the kind of control govs have with conventional payment systems.

In Iran, bitcoin mining ops must be licensed, and they can get away with that requirement because mining bitcoin is only practical with large farms that consume lots of electricity, and that leaves a footprint that authorities can see. Other cryptos work in other ways, however.

But to your point, yes I remember when China did that. And look what's happened since. Today Bitcoin is over 19000, near its all time high. Paypal which used to prohibit purchases of Bitcoin with PP funds now not only lets you do that, but will store your bitcoin for you. In effect, PP wants to be a bitcoin bank.

Central banks are also getting in on the action by developing a crypto fiat they can control. So even CB's are seeing the writing on the wall.

The government of Iran last month or so announced they would be willing to trade their domestically mined bitcoin for international goods. That as a way of cutting through US sanctions on the country which work by restricting the use of the US controlled international financial system. I expect that if they are able to generate a market that way, their next step will be to announce they will accept bitcoin for their oil, and with that, we'll have the dawning of the world's first Petro-Crypto.

I have been very certain for years that crypto is coming to the world scene in spite of government actions against it, and it seems now that view is being validated. Covid lockdowns and reckless stimulus are the catalyst that is destroying the dollar, and crypto will be ready to take its place.

G'night all.

PP wants to be a bitcoin bank.

The government of Iran last month or so announced they would be willing to trade their domestically mined bitcoin for international goods. That as a way of cutting through US sanctions

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

When Iranian students seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, the U.S. froze all Iranian assets in U.S. banking institutions. After the freeze was lifted, apparently the U.S. was sending plane loads of pallets of $!00s to Iran. That was billions of Dollars if not more. ;)

I doubt crypto is immune to the NSA when you have to get a license to get online and you can be tracked by a digital chip. Gold and silver are not currencies because they are too rare to be used by everyone. Digital controls from the NSA will block most from using them as well.

I have been working with computers since the 1980s. I never liked computer games. And I don't like cryptos.

Gold and silver can take down the whole Central Bank system. They have done it before.

Not sure I get your context there. I don't think gold and silver have brought down CB's in the past, but rather that fiat has destroyed CB's on their own, and all gold and silver did was illuminate the reasons why.

Further, if gold and silver was capable of destroying CB's why hasn't it destroyed the Fed Reserve? It's had over 100 years to do it but the Fed is still there.

I doubt crypto is immune to the NSA when you have to get a license to get online and you can be tracked by a digital chip. Gold and silver are not currencies because they are too rare to be used by everyone. Digital controls from the NSA will block most from using them as well.

I don't see requiring a license to get online a realistic scenario. The internet has become all too ubiquitous, and even if that scenario were to arise, encrypted communications ensures that it wouldn't be possible for the NSA to know what is happening with a particular user, so a crypto transfer could be made without them knowing it.

Crypto has the advantage of a team of developers who can make or modify crypto in such a way that transactions would be invisible.

I have been working with computers since the 1980s. I never liked computer games. And I don't like cryptos.

Well in your case it could be a "fight fire with fire" type of thing. Not something you like, but it works.

The US troop presence in Afghanistan was reportedly connected to the poppy trade, as I recall.

Yes.

And BillDBerger was in the Air Force stationed in northern Thailand during Vietnam war. He said they saw Air America planes. They all thought it was legitimate airline. But it was CIA airline.

Apparently they are offering Afghan farmers alternatives to growing poppies. Not sure where that program is now.

Plus another reason we are in Afghanistan is so if the Pakistanis should become even more unreasonable we can take out their nukes. ;)