There was a time when we would never have believed in the possibility of war without congressional approval. Or of a central bank. Or of a bailout for corporations. Or of imprisonment without due process or trial by jury. Or of the highest incarceration rate in the world. Or of anticipatory strikes on sovereign nations.
I can absolutely imagine CBDC’s in the US
“Spreading democracy” is a euphemism for enacting foreign governments that are complicit with US foreign policy interests.
When every country in the world considers you to be the greatest risk to world peace, you probably are.
“The Distribution of wealth … is a matter of human institution solely. The things once there, mankind, individually or collectively, can do with them as they like. They can place them at the disposal of whomsoever they please, and on whatever terms. Further, in the social state, in every state except total solitude, any disposal whatever of them can only take place by the consent of society, or rather of those who dispose of its active force [i.e. government]. Even what a person has produced by his individual toil, unaided by any one, he cannot keep, unless by the permission of society. Not only can society take it from him, but individuals could and would take it from him, if society only remained passive; if it did not either interfere en masse, or employ and pay people [i.e. police] for the purpose of preventing him from being disturbed in the possession. The distribution of wealth, therefore, depends on the laws and customs of society. The rules by which it is determined are what the opinions and feelings of the ruling portion of the community make them, and are very different in different ages and countries; and might still be more different, if mankind so chose.”
JS Mill. Principles of Political Economy
The Fight To Free Julian Assange, with Kevin Gosztola
https://www.mintpressnews.com/fight-free-julian-assange-wikileaks-kevin-gosztola/284857/
I’m thankful just to have someone read one of my posts. Keep your sats. If you take away something that challenges your world view, that’s enough.
Today, the finance, insurance, and real estate (FIRE) sector has regained control of government, creating neo-rentier economies. The aim of this postindustrial finance capitalism is the opposite of industrial capitalism as known to nineteenth-century economists: it seeks wealth primarily through the extraction of economic rent, not industrial capital formation. Tax favoritism for real estate, privatization of oil and mineral extraction, and banking and infrastructure monopolies add to the cost of living and doing business. Labor is increasingly exploited by bank debt, student debt, and credit card debt while housing and other prices are inflated on credit, leaving less income to spend on goods and services as economies suffer debt deflation. Today’s new Cold War is a fight to internationalize this rentier capitalism by globally privatizing and financializing transportation, education, health care, prisons and policing, the post office and communications, and other sectors that formerly were kept in the public domain. In Western economies, such privatizations have reversed the drive of industrial capitalism. In addition to monopoly prices for privatized services, financial managers are cannibalizing industry by leveraging debt and high- dividend payouts to increase stock prices.
Read Michael Hudson.
I dig this thread. We need more discussion about privacy and fungibility, and less about how the dollar can burn.
Freedom of speech is only defensible if one is not immediately punished for saying the unacceptable. Freedom of speech using monetary transactions is only really free if retaliation is impossible.
The United States is not a democratic society. It is not intended to be. It’s a polyarchy. Power resides in the hands of the wealth of the nation.
https://magisterwernegren.com/2017/01/27/the-minority-of-the-opulent/
Such was the predominant way of thinking for thousands of years before the scientific method
Inflation is 15%.
This keeps you in the fiat mines, grinding out day after day to make up that lost buying power.
The work detracts from your ability to read, to care for your family, to think, to engage with the arts. It makes you bitter, and then you die having lived less of your life.
The extra work feeds the FIRE industry who bleed humanity. Parasites on a social system meant to support the people.
Preserve your effort.
Good points. I’d like to see a similar list outlining your thought process about when to buy spot vs when to buy a miner
“The National Security State is an instrument of class warfare, organized and designed to permit an elite, local and multinational, to operate without any constraint from democratic processes. This allows the bulk of the population to be treated as a mere cost of production.”
The Real Terror Network
Edward Herman
What is progressive taxation?
It concentrates the burden on those whose wealth comes from rents, and minimizes the burden on those who labor.
Rents from assets are the same as Etherium managers siphoning off value just because they own. Bitcoin is a progressive system that does not reward anyone unless they put in work. The US tax system should also be.
I’m a bit worried that all my Bitcoin brothers will die of heart disease before hyper-bitcoinization
As long as the US can forcibly export their inflation to other countries, they will do it. This “debt ceiling” is an aphorism for the exportation of inflation in exchange for real commodities and labor from third would countries, using the military and banking systems as strong men.
There is no debt ceiling. The debate about whether we should owe more or not is just a distraction for people who want to think that government obligations follow the same rules as private debt obligations.
Thank you for sharing. Now I don’t regret skipping the conference.
In the aftermath of Sept 11, the checks and balances put in place to prevent the appearance of a Hobbesian Sovereign were proven ineffectual. The Leviathan exists, and it feeds on your fear and on your ambivalence toward political participation.
You made it 7 hours without seeing how good looking of a woman you could generate 👍
I made it about 2 😎
I’m so sorry to hear that-it’s hard to believe. I have a lot of friends who have been affected by this ailment. I found that a combination of aggressive orange-pilling and public shaming helped them through it.
The Inevitable De-Dollarization of the Global Economy, with Ben Norton
https://www.mintpressnews.com/ben-norton-inevitable-de-dollarization-global-economy/284796/