Forum Post: the Answer: Bitcoin please read
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 18, 2011, 10:22 p.m. EST by brecknock
(23)
from Regina, SK
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
The OWS movement is a continuation of the Arab Spring. Rather than tyrannical political oppression there is a revolt surrounding economic repression and political unfairness. The discontent is justified but the issue is being framed incorrectly as the real issue at stake is the anachronisms of our economic and political systems to be functional in a global information age. The words of the wise Canadian sage Marshall McCloughen should be heeded "the medium is the message" for if solutions are to be sought they will not come out of the political and economic sectors but from the new online global community.
Here is why and how. The basic problem with the financial system is how very sophisticated financial transactions fail to add value to the process of business and as such are exploitative. If you are among the elite who can actually understand the intricacies of quantum analysis, derivatives and collateral debt obligations you cannot aid in fixing the system because you are already profiting from it. Simply, these transactions are too complex for regulators; they are not illegal but creative mechanisms to make money on transactions.
Well what is this based upon? None of these mechanisms can exist without the compliance of fractional banking. This system at best is supported in a convention on the value of currency, which is why it is illegal to start a run on a bank. The legislators empower this system as it all utilizes sovereign currency which allows them to set the fractional reserve/lending rates. Looking for answers within this system are at odds with the system itself. The real answer must lie outside of this system and I posit that it may through non-sovereign currencies and electronic ones at that.
Because there is already a medium of exchange in bitcoin whereby you can exchange your bitcoins for dollars there exists in the power of the Occupy Wall Street movement the ability to rewrite money.
If everyone supporting the OWS movement puts $10 into bitcoin the exchange rate will go from 1-$4.30 to 1-$50. This will be the first example of non-sovereign currency going viral and the rush will not stop. Because of the returns available there will be a rush to invest...early adapters will not only invest they will convert all assets to the new medium of exchange as the standard sovereign currencies devalue. finally institutional investors will follow suit and last but not least sovereign governments.
This change will disenfranchise the 1% so identified with the movement more than any other group. Finally when sovereign nations are forced into converting they will not have a ready means of taxation whereby a Robin hood or transaction tax may be implemented causing speculation to pay for its participation in the economic process.
Smarter people than me please expand on this thread but remember the ideal of viral is very new and there are no reasons that this would not be a solution.
Perhaps the best thing an OWS participant can do, if she cares to actually have an effect on the modern financial system, is educate herself on Bitcoin, close or reduce holdings in her bank account, and start using Bitcoin as an alternative currency. It is not necessarily easy nor convenient at this stage, but it will become the standard - and those who put the time in to figure this out early will be glad they did. Start at WeUseCoins.com
ron paul would like to allow competing currencies, and believes this would ultimately lead to the fed becoming obsolete. as it is, no currency is allowed to compete in the US. gold can be seen as one, but it has a heavy collectible gains tax on it so it's far from being able to play on a fair field. bitcoin is interesting, but i imagine if it got really popular the government would find a way to shut it down.
I honestly believe the reason for our failed democracy today is because of technical issues which can be solved. Hopefully we can fix it before there is no turning back.
Certainly Bitcoins are illuminating, in that they demonstrate the fundamental truth that money is created by a kind of stage magic. People declare that something has value, and before long it is controlling them, like some kind of Hollywood demon conjured up from an inverted pentagram. Bitcoins aren't the first such phenomenon - certainly there have been many small states that have made money from stamp collectors. And the United States has done the same thing, by creating a "reserve currency", much to Mr. Putin's chagrin. But Bitcoins demonstrated that individual people, or some small organization, can wield this magic for themselves, without a crown on their heads. For an even more absurd example, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Million_Dollar_Homepage !
But rather than taking Bitcoins uncritically, and becoming a lower layer in someone else's Ponzi scheme, it would be better to understand the magic oneself, and use it directly on behalf of OWS. After all, it is possible that OWS could issue something that is collectible or is treated as a currency and hype it up into being valuable on its own.