Book recommendation

[maxmarkov]

We should all be paying attention to Venezuela now. The next few months are going to be very, very interesting. For all of those who don't understand what's going on there, here's a short summary: the West is once more trying to destabilize a country that has managed to hinder economic parasites from exploiting the country. Venezuela has the largest existing oil reserves in the world and the parasites want it. Recently their president has suggested a very radical, unheard of, but potentially, globally significant solution: the replacement of the outdated fractional reserve banking used in the majority of the world, which makes the money-making central banks the rulers of the world, by a cryptocurrency, independent from the corruption and manipulation of financial institutions. Not only would this save the country, it would show the world a far better alternative to banks. It don't think the West will allow it though, they'll try to draw Venezuela into a war at any cost. I hope they'll be able to defend themselves and prevent a war, because a government using a cryptocurrency without any involvement of corrupt financial institutions would be an extremely important experiment for the entire world.

[NameLikeNoOther]

Kicking myself for not buying more BitCoin last year. Perhaps Ethereum is still in the buy zone.

[maxmarkov]

We should all be paying attention to Venezuela now. The next few months are going to be very, very interesting. For all of those who don't understand what's going on there, here's a short summary: the West is once more trying to destabilize a country that has managed to hinder economic parasites from exploiting the country. Venezuela has the largest existing oil reserves in the world and the parasites want it. Recently their president has suggested a very radical, unheard of, but potentially, globally significant solution: the replacement of the outdated fractional reserve banking used in the majority of the world, which makes the money-making central banks the rulers of the world, by a cryptocurrency, independent from the corruption and manipulation of financial institutions. Not only would this save the country, it would show the world a far better alternative to banks. It don't think the West will allow it though, they'll try to draw Venezuela into a war at any cost. I hope they'll be able to defend themselves and prevent a war, because a government using a cryptocurrency without any involvement of corrupt financial institutions would be an extremely important experiment for the entire world.

They've started selling the Petro yesterday. This will be very interesting. From what I can tell so far however I'm not sure if it is protected enough against outside-manipulation. One of the main weaknesses of crypto currencies is the fact that they are used and often exploited for speculation, pretty much like regular currencies aswell. That it's backed by a commodity, in this particular case by their oil reserves, could be another danger. Is it a good idea to back your currency with your main export good?

[Coonehh]

Currency backed by consumables is crackhead logic to begin with!

That's why it should be backed by a long term storehouse of value, e.g. gold, silver, that doesnt get consumed and destroyed.

[maxmarkov]

Gold and silver prices can be and ARE in fact manipulated aswell, it's the easiest thing to do. :P

Recently I just found out that Stephen Zarlenga has died last year... another brilliant mind gone. His suggested solution however is probably the only monetary reform that truly makes sense. The ability to create money SHOULDN'T be in private hands, in this case in the hands of banks. Of course such people will only care about themselves and try to make themselves richer while the rest suffers. They don't necessarily want everyone else to suffer (some individuals certainly do), but they simply don't care. Therefore the money creation power AND a clear, true definition of money have to be added to the constitution. The only things money has to be backed by are correct calculation and LAW. Sure, this isn't 100% bullet-proof either, but making it a core part of the constitution at least heavily increases the difficulty for manipulation and corruption. Get rid of usury to avoid hyperinflations, make sure that there is always enough money in circulation to avoid deflations (the Great Depression was a deflation!!!) and add more or less depending on how much is NEEDED if and when it is needed.

I still highly recommend reading this book, because you'll understand EVERYTHING after it, it's amazing.

[maxmarkov]

And oh yeah... get rid of the parasitic "currency-gambling". The possibility to short-sell currency is one of the most primitive and stupid, financial mechanisms in existence. It still baffles me that this is legal.

[Coonehh]

And oh yeah... get rid of the parasitic "currency-gambling". The possibility to short-sell currency is one of the most primitive and stupid, financial mechanisms in existence. It still baffles me that this is legal.

thumbsup!!!

without the central banks position in the game though, the LIBOR manipulation, if it happened, would have seen the traders get prosecuted and then prosecution all the way up the chain of command. that SHOULD have gone straight up to the executive level and into the board room, those prosecutions....instead of nabbing a desk man or two tops.

there's some interesting rumblings in the Q space on some of this stuff, but honestly some of it sounds like a freedom lover's wet dream....but if the threads do indeed exist, then it might be within the realm of possibility, which is the wild thing. is it any wonder we then see goldman sachs talking about maybe we'll need 5 rate hikes this year, when they couldnt hike it at all under obama.

if that doesnt tell folks that the central banking institutions are at war with the people....

I agree, ban the currency gambling, energy futures gambling, High Frequency Trading algorithms that make it impossible for a human trader to exist in any efficient capacity on the market and the biggest bucks buy the fastest access, trying to actually realize the upper bound of Euler's number via speed trade...