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doesn't seem that rare to me. capitalism in the USA depends on central banks overseen / controlled by the government, with a monetary system overseen / controlled by the government. politicians use their place in state apparatus to enrich themselves in the capitalist fashion. corporations and businesses use US state legal systems supported by military power to pursue capitalist goals.

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

That is an accurate description of the status quo, often called “crony capitalism”.

It’s a real shame that the accumulation of property (capitalism) is so often mixed up with the inexcusable act of taking property from its rightful owner by threat of force (the State).

The heart of the trouble is the fiat monetary system, which allows some to print money that everyone else has to work for. Those at the helm of the money printer bite and scratch, blackmail and extort to keep their favored positions.

Once we separate money and State, the ability to coerce will evaporate, leaving peaceful, cooperating people to flourish.

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🤦🏼‍♀️ 2y ago

so the "free market" you are hyping does not (yet?) exist, but you speak of it as if it will solve our woes.

good luck. i'm not holding my breath.

jimbocoin 🃏 2y ago

We’re getting there.

The historical direction is away from outright coercion and towards freedom. Machinery can do more work with less effort than human muscles, and so more and more human effort becomes intellectual. Force and coercion are ineffective at compelling intellectual and creative labor compared to mutually consensual arrangements. It’s for this reason that places with the most freedom also have the most intellectual work and capital.

Cryptography, and especially #Bitcoin, puts the nail in the coffin of coercion as profit engine. In Bitcoin, ownership is knowledge. You either know the keys or you don’t. It is true intellectual property.

Since the dawn of agriculture, it has been the case that force can effectively be used to seize property. If you kill the farmer, you get the farm. The farmer can flee tyranny, but can’t take the farm with them.

Now, for the first time, you can flee and take your wealth with you. If you kill the Bitcoiner, you don’t get their Bitcoin. In fact, by killing them, it becomes even less likely you’ll ever see their coin. In a Bitcoinized world, mutual cooperation is the only profitable means of exchange at scale.

Unfortunately, change won’t happen overnight. It will take time for people to realize and then incorporate these tools into their lives.