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Interested in many things

Does anyone (in Ukraine perhaps) know how a friend I send bitcoin to in Ukraine who is sometimes near the front line and sometimes further west) can access it in fiat form (dollars or hriven) or get it into fiat form on a debit card to use for everyday expenses?

I agree that this statement is extreme, but a more practical position can be carefully and rationally built starting from this baseline of complete rejection of past abuses.

I looked at an Acer Swift Go 14 a friend had but it seems a bit cheaply made physically. I also talked with someone who uses a Lenovo Thinkpad E16 he got new for less than $650 and uses mostly for writing and online research. He says it’s been reliable but doesn’t challenge it much. I don’t think either of these are good suggestions - I’m just starting and not very knowledgable about hardware.

GM and happy Valentine’s Day!

A wise person once said, “If you can’t keep it, you don’t own it,” and then . . . he added to his investments in steel, brass, and lead.

Replying to Avatar Shawn

Simple question with a not-so-simple answer: Why does the federal government levy taxes?

The obvious, but incorrect, answer is: To fund services. To pay for stuff that they want done.

While this is true for state and local government, this is not the case for the federal government. The federal government has no need of your tax dollars to pay for services. They can (and do) print as much money as they need to pay for the things they want to pay for.

The next local step is to respond: “Okay, sure, but if they did that, the inflation would be insane” (moreso). Aha! Now we’ve found the first reason why the federal government levies taxes: to control inflation. And for all its faults, the US government is actually the best in the world at this. That’s a scary concept.

Another way to think about it is this: whenever the federal government spends money, on military, education, science, industry subsidies, debt interest, or anything else, new money is created. Every time. Conversely, whenever taxes are collected, money is destroyed. In an ideal situation, those two numbers are equal and we have a “balanced budget”. But that hasn’t happened since the late ‘90s, and is unlikely to ever happen again.

So do not ever whine that “my tax dollars are being spent on (thing I don’t like)!” Or “my tax dollars are being wasted.” No they aren’t. We all hate inflation, and your tax dollars are being spent to control inflation. Instead, complain that money is being PRINTED to fund (thing I don’t like). And/or complain that (people I don’t like) should pay more taxes and I should pay less. Both are probably valid.

There are two more reasons why the federal government levies taxes:

To generate demand for the currency. US taxes can only be paid in US dollars. If you could pay your taxes in Euros, gold, or bitcoin, that would reduce the demand for dollars (moreso) and threaten the foundation of US dollar hegemony. Can’t have that!

Lastly, and less crucial to this conversation: the federal government levies taxes to influence behavior. Tariffs are the perfect example of this. Tariffs are a tax on US businesses, and sometimes individuals, to make it more expensive to import goods internationally. They encourage patronizing US businesses, which is fine if there actually exists competing US businesses in the industries that are being tariffed. If there aren’t, well, that just means higher prices for US consumers.

My main point is this: maybe the federal government shouldn’t have the power to print as much money as they want. Then the obvious answer would actually be the correct answer.

Excellent and logical observations!

Replying to Avatar asyncmind

🎙️ The Maximoron Podcast 🎙️

Where Everything Except Bitcoin is a Scam™

Welcome to The Maximoron Podcast, the only podcast where we scream about number go up, roast altcoiners, and remind you that if you haven’t sold your house for sats, you’re NGMI. Hosted by two self-proclaimed giga-brains who read The Bitcoin Standard once and now think they understand macroeconomics better than the Fed.

Episode 1: Fiat Is a Scam, But I Still Need My Sponsorships

We kick things off by explaining why the entire global financial system is a Ponzi scheme, while conveniently ignoring that our podcast is sponsored by a Bitcoin hardware wallet company that overcharges for a glorified USB stick. Special guest: an ex-VC-turned-maxi who used to pump altcoins but now only shills Bitcoin merch.

Episode 2: Why Altcoins Are Just Fiat With Extra Steps

We break down how Ethereum is a centralized scam run by lizard people, why every other blockchain is a "pre-mine," and how the Lightning Network is totally working perfectly (please ignore the liquidity issues). Meanwhile, our host still keeps some Monero for “privacy” but will never admit it on air.

Episode 3: We Love Austrian Economics But Ignore The Parts That Inconvenience Us

A deep dive into why Keynes was the devil and why every economy should just hodl indefinitely. We discuss how Bitcoin will fix everything, from inflation to your bad posture, without mentioning how network fees might make it unusable for the plebs in 10 years.

Episode 4: NGMI, Cope, and Other Words That Make Us Sound Smart

A lexicon of maximalist insults. We rank our favorites, from “have fun staying poor” to “touch grass,” while completely ignoring that most of us only touch Bitcoin Twitter. We also debate whether calling people "NPCs" makes us look cool or just socially awkward.

Episode 5: Decentralization Matters, Unless It’s Bitcoin Governance

A hot take on why governance is a scam—unless it’s Bitcoin Core devs making changes, in which case it’s fine because “consensus.” Featuring a guest who hasn’t written a single line of code but definitely has very strong opinions on Taproot activation.

Episode 6: We Don’t Need Marketing, But Please Buy My Course

A discussion on why Bitcoin should be purely organic and grassroots, while our host launches yet another paid Telegram group for "serious Bitcoiners only." Includes a rant about how we don’t need influencers—right before we interview an influencer with laser eyes in their profile picture.

Episode 7: Why Everything Is a Scam, Except the Scam I Like

We discuss the hypocrisy of calling everything a scam while quietly stacking yield-bearing Bitcoin instruments. Special guest: an OG maxi who swore off KYC but still uses Coinbase because “it’s just convenient, bro.”

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Join us every week as we repeat the same five talking points, dunk on no-coiners, and convince ourselves that Bitcoin will take over the world any day now. Subscribe now or have fun staying poor.

#Maxi #MaxiMoronix #MaxiMoron

Satire can be quite enlightening - or maybe just temporarily fog-clearing.

The ATF should ne disbanded. What a waste of fiat!

But, but, but. . . she EARNED it because she’s so uniquely qualified!!

Cows are not human. Humans are animals. Both statements are true. Neither statement addresses the reason that cows should be respected.

A yellow rose soaking in the late afternoon sun on a cool January day says, “Greetings friends. The small things add up to form the tapestry of memory. Value each day and each night.”