Sanctions and Cashless Society

[LeviF]

Couple of tweets to start things off:

 

 

 

 

This brought a couple of things to mind for me. 
 

First, how much sanctions actually affect the poor and working classes. 
 

Second, and more the point, how much we’ve already become reliant on digital methods of payment (Bank cards I suppose count toward this as well, since they become plain old plastic rectangles without the digital support). 
 

This raises many questions. Why is a method of payment this fragile constantly pushed by the media and governments? Who has the power to turn it off and on? Who *should* have the power to turn it off and on?

 

Americans are relatively fortunate in the sense that it’s our government that has a tight hold on these things. Which is why China created their own, internal system. But a system run by an communist autocracy has its own issues. 
 

Whole sections of society shut down without electronic payment already. I think we should be thinking through all of the possibilities if we want to continue to marginalize cash payment. 

[SCBills]

If you haven’t already, listen to the Rogan podcast with Maajid Nawaz.  
 

 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

1 hour ago, LeviF said:

Couple of tweets to start things off:

 

 

 

 

This brought a couple of things to mind for me. 
 

First, how much sanctions actually affect the poor and working classes. 
 

Second, and more the point, how much we’ve already become reliant on digital methods of payment (Bank cards I suppose count toward this as well, since they become plain old plastic rectangles without the digital support). 
 

This raises many questions. Why is a method of payment this fragile constantly pushed by the media and governments? Who has the power to turn it off and on? Who *should* have the power to turn it off and on?

 

Americans are relatively fortunate in the sense that it’s our government that has a tight hold on these things. Which is why China created their own, internal system. But a system run by an communist autocracy has its own issues. 
 

Whole sections of society shut down without electronic payment already. I think we should be thinking through all of the possibilities if we want to continue to marginalize cash payment. 

Yeah you can wake up tomorrow and have a bunch of printed paper that’s worthless too, by decree. That’s the appeal of hard assets like property and metals. We trade tangible assists like goods and services for paper or digital currency. It’s just the way we’ve decided it’s gonna work, with all it perils. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[LeviF]

51 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Yeah you can wake up tomorrow and have a bunch of printed paper that’s worthless too, by decree. That’s the appeal of hard assets like property and metals. We trade tangible assists like goods and services for paper or digital currency. It’s just the way we’ve decided it’s gonna work, with all it perils. 

 

I mean if we want to follow that thought all the way down the government has the means and the process by which to seize your hard assets too. But that's not really the point.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

45 minutes ago, LeviF said:

 

I mean if we want to follow that thought all the way down the government has the means and the process by which to seize your hard assets too. But that's not really the point.

what is the point? If your suggestions e commerce has risk and consolidates power, my point is so does a currency.
 

bitcoin is supposed to assuage some of the digital currency concerns.
 

at the end of the day governments can do what ever they want, which is why the less power they have, the better  

[BillStime]

Déjà vu
 

 

[LeviF]

33 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

what is the point? If your suggestions e commerce has risk and consolidates power, my point is so does a currency.

 

Currency managed to get us along for 2500 years or so.

 

34 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

bitcoin is supposed to assuage some of the digital currency concerns.

 

Narrator: "it didn't."

 

34 minutes ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

 

at the end of the day governments can do what ever they want, which is why the less power they have, the better  

 

So we, what, throw our hands up in the air because civilization ceded this power to government millennia ago? Are you saying that a cashless society is, in effect, the same as the one where coin currency is the norm?

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

11 minutes ago, LeviF said:

 

Currency managed to get us along for 2500 years or so.

 

 

Narrator: "it didn't."

 

 

So we, what, throw our hands up in the air because civilization ceded this power to government millennia ago? Are you saying that a cashless society is, in effect, the same as the one where coin currency is the norm?

 

Digital currency is going to take it from here. 

 

narrator needs to read this 

 

https://insidebitcoins.com/news/european-central-bank-expresses-concerns-over-russia-using-crypto-to-avoid-sanctions

 

Yes, I am saying at a macro level, cashless society shares a lot of the same risk as coin currency. Instead of a number on a website your coins are pieces of metal some entity stamped text on to assign it a value.

 

if you really want to fight the risk start bartering livestock and produce 😉 

 

You’re the one hand waiving and hand wringing-  some aren’t happy unless they are worried about something… 

 

im really not so worried about it. 

[SCBills]

1 hour ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

what is the point? If your suggestions e commerce has risk and consolidates power, my point is so does a currency.
 

bitcoin is supposed to assuage some of the digital currency concerns.
 

at the end of the day governments can do what ever they want, which is why the less power they have, the better  

 

The government can’t control your speech when you are in control of it.  But they can control it when it’s used through a tech platform.   
 

Same with non-physical money through a centralized bank. 

See China’s social credit system. 
 

Edited March 1, 2022 by SCBills

[LeviF]

4 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

 

Digital currency is going to take it from here. 

 

narrator needs to read this 

 

https://insidebitcoins.com/news/european-central-bank-expresses-concerns-over-russia-using-crypto-to-avoid-sanctions

 

Yes, I am saying at a macro level, cashless society shares a lot of the same risk as coin currency. Instead of a number on a website your coins are pieces of metal some entity stamped text on to assign it a value.

 

if you really want to fight the risk start bartering livestock and produce 😉 

 

You’re the one hand waiving and hand wringing-  some aren’t happy unless they are worried about something… 

 

im really not so worried about it. 

Crypto apologists really don’t get it. The government can very easily seize or freeze your digital assets. 
 

And then there’s the whole matter of getting your black market currency accepted in exchange for goods or services. Or better yet, getting the tax man to accept it. 
 

And I do trade for some of my meat and produce. 
 

I’ll be fine. I just wonder if all these bitheads have really thought this thing through. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

29 minutes ago, LeviF said:

Crypto apologists really don’t get it. The government can very easily seize or freeze your digital assets. 
 

And then there’s the whole matter of getting your black market currency accepted in exchange for goods or services. Or better yet, getting the tax man to accept it. 
 

And I do trade for some of my meat and produce. 
 

I’ll be fine. I just wonder if all these bitheads have really thought this thing through. 

Everything new has uncertainty . I promise you none of these oligarchs worrying about frozen assets got to be oligarchs by stuffing their cash in the mattress. 
 

if you want absolute certainty, that’s death and taxes