Conqueror Fear
Recently I have read some commentators greatly concerned regarding a ransom ware attack where the extortionist wanted payment in bitcoin. An amount of about $11 billion. As liars, propagandists and purveyors of misinformation and disinformation like to resort to; presenting anecdotal data without context and making a conclusion without the discipline of the scientific method. Their definition of proof is simple, they assert it so that makes it true. Never let a good and convenient anecdote go to waste.
An analysis of bitcoin activity related to illicit activity demonstrates that the greatest utility of bitcoin is for HODLing. Accumulating wealth! And no other asset has performed better! Illicit activity is an outlier.
Today I read this article : https://www.axios.com/pandemic-unemployment-fraud-benefits-stolen-a937ad9d-0973-4aad-814f-4ca47b72f67f.html, potentially $400 BILLION might have been lost to illicit activity. Through the banking system, ATMs, ACH. The USA dollar. Intermediated through our heavily regulated financial system and then the proceeds are invested by Wall Street. What do you assume the total amount of money, fiat paper money, is linked to illicit activity? For how long have we talked about the millions associated with waste, fraud and abuse at the government level associated with government programs? How many billions? Possibly, how many trillions?
This represents again another opportunity for what government does best, sell fear! They want power and control. They are threatened by anything and everything that threatens that.
Their bullshit narrative is that they can legislate and regulate away all risk. And do so without any consequences to our freedom and liberty. And control over money is one of their most potent, powerful and effective weapons. They need to control money and the ledger. That way, as we have seen, they can print and spend and convince the public that it is a free lunch. Free money without consequence. They do not tell the truth that all they are printing are IOUs. IOU Nothings because there is little intention to actually pay those IOUs. That they can print to infinity.
Since so many have lost faith in the issuance of IOU Nothings. The abuse of trust and discretion. A monetary system based upon deception. Bernanke and others have stated the need for deception.
Now a free market alternative has arisen. Reaching a trillion dollar market capitalization sooner than Google. Sooner than Apple. Sooner than Amazon. Evolving organically. No powerful sponsor. Wall Street attacking it. Banksters attacking it. Governments all over the world attacking.
Why do they all attack bitcoin? Fear of competition. Fear of loss of control. As adoption grows. Their fear and desperation grows. So the empire strikes back. It recruits all on the dark side and work to instill fear. They refuse to acknowledge that their gross negligence and incompetence has created a fragile, over indebted economy and their debasement of a sacred trust to preserve the purchasing power of money. They refused to accept constraint and modesty. Instead they chose hubris without limits. Or boundaries. They debased trust. Eroded trust. They did it! They created the need for a bitcoin. Their extravagance. Spend and borrow. Spend more and borrow more. Then spend more and more and more. Borrow more and more and more. Print. Print more. Print even more. Never stop printing. Keep borrowing. Tax. Tax more. Tax even more. Regulate. Regulate more. Regulate still more.
Maybe the most effective and productive investment for businesses today is to invest not in R&D, but invest in lobbying. Invest in receiving government-granted privileges. Maybe the value accretion is greater lobbying government for perks and privileges than investing in growth and efficiency.
Now, so many see hope in bitcoin. They trust bitcoin. They trust the ledger. They trust holding their own money in their own wallet. They believe that is the best way to avoid their own wealth debasement because of the irresponsible policies governments have embraced.
Government hates and detests that independence. Government wants either dependence or co-dependence. Fears independence. So it and others on the dark side go return to the most effective strategy they use. Sell fear. And use of force. To live truly independent lives we need to conquer our fears. And discern bullshit when we hear it. Many can craft a beautiful fiction from an anecdote. In discerning truth, more rigor is required. And context.
The first hundred years of our nation’s history, despite the War of 1812 and the Civil War, we emerged as one of the richest countries in the world. We created so much wealth. Without an income tax. Without a Fed. Without inflation. Without a regulatory state. Without an administrative state. Without a surveillance state. We accomplished with through the ideals of freedom and liberty enshrined in our unique Constitutional Republic. And we did so while attracting people from all over the world. None expecting any assistance from the government. The Land of Opportunity.
Bitcoin comes in peace. Bitcoin is liberating. That is the reason most bitcoiners HODL. That is its greatest utility.
It is truly sad that venal people create a narrative, a false narrative, deploying anecdotes in order to impose a severe collective punishment. Upon the innocent.
They do not promote this for our protection but for their own protection.