It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => Economy => Topic started by: jpatrickham on August 31, 2011, 01:40:45 PM
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Wednesday, 31 August 2011 06:39 The Daily Bell
DB Briefs: Undermining Bitcoin and the American Justice System / Desperate Bankers Damp Lending in China / Does a Clean Environment Preempt a Healthy Economy?
Undermining Bitcoin and the American Justice System
Bitcoin: FBI Admits To Engaging In Infiltration, Disruption and Dismantling of Competing Currencies ... In a March 18, 2011 press release regarding the Liberty Dollar case, the FBI admitted to waging a secret war against any private currency system that competes against the US Dollar. In the press release, the FBI equates the use of sound money to an act of domestic terrorism. The FBI states that it uses methods of infiltration and disruption against private citizens engaged in the use of voluntary currencies. –Libertarian News
Dominant Social Theme: The FBI is a good and patriotic organization.
Free-Market Analysis:
The author of this article believes the FBI has declared war on Bitcoin, using the rationale enunciated in the Liberty Dollar Case. He writes, "I think this open admission by the FBI that it engages in acts of domestic terrorism against private currency systems bears a particular importance for users of the Bitcoin monetary system. If we look at the history of Bitcoin since it gained notoriety, we see a slew of hacking attacks against major exchanges that have indeed disrupted and undermined the currency system."
http://www.rightsidenews.com/2011083114403/us/politics-and-economics/the-fbi-and-bitcoin-chinese-lending-and-green-healthy-economy.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=ade154b3a8-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email (http://www.rightsidenews.com/2011083114403/us/politics-and-economics/the-fbi-and-bitcoin-chinese-lending-and-green-healthy-economy.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=ade154b3a8-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email) ::gaah::
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The "Liberty Dollar" case is interesting. Clearly they are not counterfeiting, as the coins they are minting are not replicas of legal tender. But it is definitely an alternate currency, competing with legal tender. States are not constitutionally allowed to mint currency, but if individual citizens create a system of trade that is freely entered into, I can't find any prohibition to it. To prohibit people from accepting something other than a dollar as payment would seem to prohibit all such transactions - not just privately minted coins, but barter and pro bono, for example. It seems to trample freedom of association.
I don't know what "bitcoin" is. From the sound of it, it's an online currency system that the government will likely squash as it did Liberty Dollar.
I don't pretend to know all the details of the legalities in these situations, but from what I do know, it reeks of the same kind of tyranny we're witnessing more and more every day.
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And let us not forget the slippy slope side of this...
How is this any different than businesses drumming up economic activity by issuing coupons and vouchers? Is that not a form of currency? It is after assigned a monetary value but isn't legal tender, but in all but name it is acting exactly as legal tender!
Let us start with the logical step of determining what our definitions of currency and legal tender are -
*currency:
noun general acceptance or use; "the currency of ideas"
noun the metal or paper medium of exchange that is presently used
*tender
noun something that can be used as an official medium of payment
see also; legal_tender, stamp
http://www.dictionary.hm/ (http://www.dictionary.hm/)
So, it appears that without official sanction a medium of exchange cannot be considered legal tender. Seems pretty clear cut. But in the case of any unofficial mediums of exchange that are not counterfeit of legal tender, what right does the fothermucking Federal government have in deciding what forms of unofficial mediums it can punish and criminalize?
This case has an extra element to it that ought to give all us much greater pause...the Fed's can use what ever excuse they want...but they are going after people presenting precious metals as a medium of exchange, period. The Fed's have a history of confiscating precious metals and because the economy and monetary base is being systematically destroyed by agents of The Regime they know more and more of this is going to come up. Our rights as citizens and our rights to property have been and are increasingly being rolled back.
If these FBI jackasses really wanted to do something about people who are intentionally undermining the dollar and a sound currency system they would go after the primary terrorists committing this on a mass scale - Obama, Geitner, Bernanke!
Until then they can KMA!
::mooning::
And people, lets get smarter...hoard all barter items and lay low...there will soon come a time when goons chasing after you will have bigger fish to fry and there will be no controls over the new economy when that happens!
;)
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The Liberty Dollar got into trouble because of the word "Dollar."
If he would have just labeled them 1 Oz. Silver, or other such thing, he would have been OK.
I still can't figure out what bitcoin is? Is that one of those payment sytems put into place to get around laws that prevent people from using credit cards to buy something, like internet poker?
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I gotchya MNHawk, but monetary value is stamped all over coupons and vouchers galore...just because dollar is stamped on slab of silver is insufficient to call it counterfeit or for anyone of a serious mind to see such a small amount as a beastly threat to the coin of the realm...this is pure 100% overkill meant solely to intimidate.
Ya got me on bitcoin, until this thread I never heard of it.
But it appears you are right...virtual currency...
http://www.bitcoin.org/3 (http://www.bitcoin.org/3)
Digital counterfeit! Fed's will go apesh*t!
::speechless::
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I gotchya MNHawk, but monetary value is stamped all over coupons and vouchers galore...
Coupons usually say right on them "no cash value" or "cash value 1/25¢" But you're absolutely right. A coupon IS currency in that it is exchanged for a product or service. Thus, the "Liberty Dollar" could have been deemed a "100% coupon" for merchandise exchanged between willing participants.
But I think MnHawk is right. The word "dollar" suggests an attempt to introduce an alternative competitive currency to the official one. Official currency is the federal government's job. They should have called it "Liberty Silver Coin" or some such thing.