Crypto COLLAPSE: Look Out BELOW!

The Crypto ecosystem is collapsing.  What was once an intelligent stab at independent digital money, brought about by intelligent cryptographers (Hal Finney et al), has become a corrupt, Ponzi-esque dumpster fire.

Bitcoin was never intended to be:

• A store of value.
• Digital gold.
• A dollar replacement.
• Your retirement fund.
• A get rich quick plan.
• "Number go up." (laser eyes)
• "Have fun staying poor." (laser eyes)

It was intended to be a trustless cash system, where it was mathematically etched in stone on the blockchain that your money was yours, and you could digitally send it real time to someone else.  You didn't need a third party (the 'trust' part) to determine that the funds were yours, or legit.  It's all very libertarian, and elegant in its simplicity.

Over the years the crypto world has become corrupt beyond recognition.  It looks like the chickens have come home to roost.

As I write this, the market cap for the crypto universe has collapsed from well over $3 trillion to $933 billion.  That's a big drop.

Terra Luna, a token / stablecoin outfit, went bust last week. Zeroed out.

The Celsius Network, a place where you could 'unbank' yourself, and earn huge yield on your money, went bust a few days ago.

Do you see the third name on the list above?  Tether is next.  Tether is the (theoretically) 1:1 dollar - backed stable coin that is used all throughout the cryptoverse to buy millions in Bitcoin as well as other cryptocurrencies.

The problem is that no one can see where the newly created Tether comes from, nor can anyone figure out if Tether is truly backed by anything of value.  Think of it this way:  The price of Bitcoin isn't really in dollars, it's in Tether.  Right now, Bitcoin = 20,570 Tether.

If Tether is a house of fraudulent cards. When it goes down, the whole cryptoverse will look even worse than this BTC chart:

Tether is the underpinning of much of the whole crypto economy.  If the charlatans who run Tether are unable to maintain 1:1 backing or confidence in their product, BTC will collapse, and most of the other cryptocurrencies will go to zero.

The cracks are already showing:

The combination of easy money, lack of discipline, the SEC asleep at the switch, Tether using smoke and mirrors to stay afloat, and people unwilling to recognize obvious frauds (Celsius was offering 20% return on deposits!) has allowed this to happen.  I think it's going to get worse. 

And yes, you can send me BCH at the address below, as it will be one of the 12,000 cryptos to survive the implosion.

These two are your go to guys for avoiding the Crash:

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Here's how you can help me out during The Current Year:

You can send me Bitcoin Cash (BCH) here:



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Aigil Gomez Pays With Bitcoin Cash in Caracas Venezuela

Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency have been in the news recently.

BTC (Bitcoin) has been spindled and mutilated into 'digital gold' and 'diamond hands' and 'HODL'.

That's not what the idea was.  The point was to have peer to peer cash payments available to all.  This increases financial freedom.  This Venezuelan influencer hottie shows you how useful Bitcoin Cash (BCH) can be in a failed state like Venezuela.

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Lyn Alden - BITCOIN is Not a Ponzi Scheme

Lyn Alden has been on Youtube a lot recently.  I've watched all the videos.

Because I've finally gotten into Bitcoin, I am burying myself in information as I go.  Alden takes on one of the most common misconceptions about Bitcoin - that it is a Ponzi scheme.

Bitcoin is many things, but it isn't a Ponzi scheme.  It isn't guaranteed to succeed at this stage of its young life; it's been around only 12 years.  However, the criticism of it is mostly unfounded.  Not only that, the criticism of Bitcoin sounds ridiculous when you compare it to the fiat dollar.  Those slips of paper in your pocket, or the digits on your screen are about as 'solid' as thin air.

Also, you have no control over the dollar.  Someone can print and create as many dollars as he likes, but not you.  With Bitcoin no one can create more at any time - including you.

One of the things that got me to take a deep dive into Bitcoin was that every argument against it I thought of, I came up with the same argument for the fiat dollar.  "Fiat" = created on a whim by some entity.

Additionally, as I have watched the value of the dollar collapse courtesy of the Federal Reserve, I have watched Bitcoin rise in value.  Despite all of this, otherwise smart people seem to have an inability to see what I and others see as obvious.  

Here's Nassim Nicholas Taleb making an argument that could be made about any stock on the NYSE:

Notice the hedge 'at least for now'.  That's the tell.  Even Taleb is watching the price.  And what's with the COVID comment?  I've learned over the years that experts in one field can be cloddish and idiotic in others.  Taleb shows it here with that crack.

"Bitcoin was launched in the fairest way possible.

Satoshi first showed others how to do it with the white paper in an academic sense, and then did it himself months later, and anyone could begin mining along­side him within the first days as some early adopters did. Satoshi then distrib­uted the devel­op­ment of the software to others and disap­peared, rather than continue to promote it as a charis­matic leader, and so far has never cashed out.

From the begin­ning, Bitcoin has remained an open source and fully trans­parent project, and has the most organic growth trajec­tory of the industry. Given avail­able infor­ma­tion, the market has priced it as it sees fit, out in the open."

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Pomp and Green Lock Horns about BITCOIN

Bitcoin has been in the news a lot recently.  I am learning about it like everyone else, so I enjoy a good debate as I want my pro-bitcoin views challenged. Anthony Pompliano and Mike Green debated BTC on RealVision.  This was my comment on the site, to which I subscribe:

Debate Review:

Mike Green's mask slipped a few times, particularly when Green mentioned that Pomp's politicians were 'against the Green New Deal' and "have a perfect score from the NRA". Not only was this not germane to the debate, it exposed Mr. Green's bias. This was only the beginning.

It must be nice to casually wave ride all the popular positions among that the Davos Elite espouse on Twitter. Those of us who are teachers, like me, have watched the Establishment types erode the US Dollar, witnessed the Establishment go into other countries and blow people up, install sanctions that harm children and the vulnerable, as well as create enemies through shibboleths like 'weapons of mass destruction'. All courtesy of the FED, jerking itself off by creating as many dollars as it needs. They also need the USD to pull all of these atrocities off. Mr. Green suggested that, because the ratio of dollars to the amount of Bad Behavior is an acceptable one, it is somehow different than our 'enemies' using bitcoin, therefore rendering it a bad thing. This was a bafflingly bad argument. Because a digital commodity like bitcoin is used for bad, the commodity itself is guilty? This is the argument used against gun manufacturers. I would ask him if he and his immense wealth (the defenders of the Green New Deal would call it obscene and try to take it from him), are protected by armed security. Hats off to him if the answer is no.

This is the 'system' that Mr. Green wants someone like me, a public school English Teacher in the African - American neighborhood, to remain loyal. It's difficult to put into words the disconnect he has to what regular people are going through. He mentions reform within the system. He talked about how ECB, FED, and Treasury secretaries might ban bitcoin. The same people who have destroyed the currency I'm forced to use. The same people who told all the small businesses they have to close, because people might get sick, while the large corporations can stay open.

During this time of heretofore unseen transfers of wealth upward, I suggest it would be helpful for Mr. Green to have walked with me through Target (the one on 225th and Broadway in the Bronx) where milk has gone up in price quite a bit in the last 18 months. In the smaller grocery stores the price is even higher, as they don't have Transnational - Corp. - Immune - to - CV19 status.

As I, and other like me, scurry to find an asset that holds value, Mr. Green suggests that I should remain loyal to politicians and bureaucrats who can print political money - but I can't. And I should avoid bitcoin, an asset where I can't print more - and neither can anyone else. All because the biggest and most oppressive entity in the history of the world doesn't want bad actors in Iran and China using it?

I've listened to many of Mr. Green's interviews on this channel, and I've learned a lot from him and enjoyed his keen analysis. He falls flat here.

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Unfortunately the debate is here, behind a subscription firewall. If it becomes public I will post it.

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Why the r/wallstreetbets Silver Move Failed

 Robert Kiyosaki is the author of the best seller Rich Dad, Poor Dad.  It's a pretty good book.  It isn't the one you want.  The one you want is Cash Flow Quadrant.  It's the one with actionable advice.

For the information in Rich Dad, Poor Dad, just watch one of the YouTube videos on it.  You'll get it in 10 minutes.

In this video, Kiyosaki not only tells you why the silver play failed, but also what his upcoming book is about.  He also talks about the way the country is going, and why he's heavy into gold, silver, and cryptocurrency.  I agree with him.  When we talk about the balkanization of these United States, Kiyosaki's comments about what is going on are a large part of the discussion.  He's particularly on point about the idiocy, ignorance, and outright disgusting nature of much of the university faculty / ethos.

If the universities are miseducating students, and the federal government is doing nonsense like this, then it makes sense to get as much information from someone like Kiyosaki, who has a track record of success.  Store your wealth.  Learn why the Reddit silver play flopped, and listen closely to this guy.  

From YouTube:

"This is an episode of The Pomp Podcast with host Anthony "Pomp" Pompliano and guest, Robert Kiyosaki, an American businessman and author. Kiyosaki is the founder of Rich Global LLC and the Rich Dad Company, a private financial education company that provides personal finance and business education to people through books and videos. 

His book, Rich Dad Poor Dad, is the number 1 personal finance book of all time. In this conversation, Anthony and Robert discuss the current global economy, why the Fed is a cartel, what every individual needs to understand about finance, where you should put your wealth to protect it, why the little guy is going to get screwed in this financial depression, and Robert even shares a number of Vietnam war stories."

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Is SILVER Next? wallstreetbets Takes Aim at Silver Stonk! Gonna Be LITT!

 Is this real?  Elements of it are.

Silver has been a manipulated market for decades.  I wrote about it during my hard-core libertarian phase way back when.  Hell, the second post on this blog in November 2010 was about QE, and we watched  Silver Bears discussing The Bernank and his FED shenanigans.

JP Morgan has paid multiple fines to the CFTC for getting caught manipulating the silver market.  That link gets you only to the latest one.

This has made it a target.

It looks like the austists have taken aim at one of the most manipulated markets in recent history.  The silver and gold markets are always hammered down my the Big Shots.  Gold and Silver represent 6,000 years of market testing by people asking: 'what is money?' and 'how can I store my wealth?'

The Power Elite want you to never store your wealth.  They do it, but you shouldn't.  You should use your political money, fiat, to waltz into a rigged game.  Buy bonds.  Buy annuities. Buy stonks.  Get your face ripped off at times ... win some, lose some.  The key to all of this is that you use the money that is backed my nothing.  If you win - great.  If they win, even greater.  If you lose - too bad chump.  If they lose - time for a bailout and and a bonus. 

(Ask yourself this: If precious metals aren't money, and aren't worth much ... why do central banks hold it? Why do the wealthy own it?)

Here is The Godfather of Gold verbally disemboweling The Godfather of Helicopter Fiat:

It is this ethos that is driving much of the r/wallstreetbets engine.  If the next target is paper silver, look out - this could make GME look tame:

One of the redditors is nice enough to give a bit of a disclaimer:

"Join me brothers. Lets take silver to the moon and take on the biggest and baddest manipulators in the world.

Please post rocket emojis in the comments as desired.

Disclaimer: do your own research, make your own decisions, everything here is a guess and hypothetical and nothing is guaranteed, not a financial advisor, I have ADHD and maybe other things too."

When people are doing it for the lulz, it's like fighting a hydra; cut off one serpent head and 2 take its place.

Silver was already in demand. Odd how the price has hovered around $23 - $29 for the last 6 months, even with demand through the roof.  Shouldn't the price go up?  

r/wallstreetbets may have already started the project.  I went to one of the biggest exchanges to look into buying silver coins:

"currently out of stock" (do they mean stonk?)

It would be exciting, to say the least, if the reddit crowd does this.  The reaction of the Financial Elite will be incredible.  Whenever the Human Ballast work together, they go crazy.  Remember, in Orwell's 1984, the Proles were the last and only hope.  It's why I cheer for the Proles - flaws and all.

This might make the GME Gamestonk GameStop even look tame.  Multiply this by 100:

Keep your eyes open people - if they go for this it's gonna be LITT!

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GameStop Stonks: Revolt of the Unwashed Masses

I don't know about you, but I never catch a break. Or get a bailout. 

I owed $78.41 in taxes one year, and I got a nasty letter telling me I'd better pay up.  

Did you know that you have to fill out forms and pay to NOT do business in NY?  I started a business that did no business.  NY State sent me a bill for $13,000.  You know why?  Because they had no records of any business transactions; they estimated what I'd been doing and came up with an overdue tax bill.

I'm still dealing with NY State on this matter.  

What would've happened if I'd crashed the world economy in 2007?  For much less I would be in prison for life.  The suits got a bailout, and had some of the biggest bonus checks ever written.  Did THEY pay?

No.

Would you or I pay?

Yes.  That's why this GameStop (GME) stuff is so glorious.  I'd like to see moar.

• How dare the rabble push back and give a big orange middle finger to the Globalists?
• How dare the plebs beat the suits at their own game?
• How dare the filth make the white shoe boys lose their shirts in the stonk game?
• How dare the roaches have a say in anything at all?

You are seeing pushback.  Good for them.  

This was the original letter from the wretched masses to the Wall St. Hedge Funds / CNBC.  It's great:

It's so intense and costing Big Melvin Hedgefund so much $$$ they've banned / suspended r/wallstreetbets.

r/wallstreetbets isn't going out like that.  The Masters of the Universe got to reddit to ban the bothersome plebs.  Here is the answer to that.  Uh oh.  Weaponized autism alert:

This memetastic week has been glorious.  While the suits, the Elite, the people who have destroyed a once fantastic country are saying "but how dare you manipulate the market?, the regular people are reveling in the weaponized autism:

The King of Stonks speaks well here.  If you're a suit, a big shot, you can not only destroy an economy, you can get rewarded.  If you're a regular guy from Jerkwater USA, you'd better bow your head, slave.

Emergency Press Conference - The Suits Shut Down

@wallstreetbets

@WSBChairman

My prediction is tomorrow will be intergalactic for $amc $gme $nok (Im not a financial adviser. Don’t listen to me)

419.9K views

1:48 / 2:20

7:36 PM · Jan 27, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

UPDATE: You can't stop those who are doing it for the LULZ.

MOAR UPDATE!  aaaa I can't keep up!!

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The Origins of the FED - How it Controls Money and People

The Federal Reserve is the topic you're not supposed to talk about.  The FED, the central bank of the United States, took over the country in 1913.  Does that sound like hyperbole?  Only if you are uninformed and believing only the Organs of the Establishment that promote the myth that the FED is there for the public good.

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson.” – FDR letter to Colonel Edward House, Nov. 21 1933

Was FDR a 'conspiracy theorist'?  Why did he say that?  James Corbett, of the stellar independent news site corbettreport.com explains in this thorough documentary.

From Corbett's site: All our lives we’ve been told that economics is boring. It’s dull. It’s not worth the time it takes to understand it. And all our lives, we’ve been lied to.

War. Poverty. Revolution. They all hinge on economics. And economics all rests on one key concept: money. Money. It is the economic water in which we live our lives. We even call it ‘currency’; it flows around us, carries us in its wake. Drowns those who are not careful. We use it every day in nearly every transaction we conduct. We spend our lives working for it, worrying about it, saving it, spending it, pinching it. It defines our social status. It compromises our morals. People are willing to fight, die and kill for it.

But what is it? Where does it come from? How is it created? Who controls it? It is a remarkable fact that, given its central importance in our lives, not one person in a hundred could answer such basic questions about money as these.

Martenson's Updated Crash Course - A Great Learning Experience

There were a few things that completely changed my worldview for the better.  These things made me think rationally, clearly, independently and thoroughly.  The writings of Theodore Dalrymple and John Taylor Gatto, the campaigns of Ron Paul, the 'Peter Schiff was Right' youtube videos and the works of Gary North and Tom Woods are some of the main sources from what was a serious philosophical change for me from 2005 - 2011.

A video series that put together the absurdity and danger of our monetary system and the FED was called "The Crash Course" by Chris Martenson.  It provided a visual link to the things that are never discussed in mainstream circles, and certainly never in school.  I had never had such things explained to me as a young person. The Crash Course opened my eyes instantly.  I think I watched the whole thing twice upon discovering it.

Martenson's premise is simple: the next 20 years will be nothing like the last 20 years.  He focuses on the E's: Economy, Education, Energy and Environment.  Recently he released a condensed and updated version of The Crash Course.  It will probably me more informative and useful to you than any social studies, civics or economics class you'll have in school.  It certainly contains more information and depth than your teacher, who thinks that 'Obama will take care of things' or 'once the Republicans get back in charge things will be better'.  People who still think that way should be taught how to escape that limited mindset.  The first thing to show them is this quote by Zora Neale Hurston: “Anybody depending on somebody else's gods is depending on a fox not to eat chickens.”  The second step is to watch the updated Crash Course:

Michael Lewis And The Mainstream - 5 Years Behind The News.

Two things:
1) I enjoy Michael Lewis' work a lot.   Liar's Poker and The Big Short are two exciting and fascinating books to read about modern finance.  "Exciting" isn't a word used too often with financial journalism, but Lewis manages to make these topics read like novels.
2) I forgot to mention the SEC in the podcast.  This latest scandal will have many crying "we need more government regulation!!!"  Well, where was the SEC?  Not just that, where were the other 110 entities that are assigned to regulate the financial markets?  You'll feel like a fool when you read about the SEC in Lewis' latest book.  As usual, gov't isn't the answer, but your teacher will tell you otherwise.

This podcast is about the 5 year lag in between High Frequency Trading being mentioned on a 'blog' and the Mainstream catching on to the scam and the fraud.  Michael Lewis' new book, Flash Boys is now out, it is very good, and very late.  HFT algorithms have been scamming and skimming for years and Lewis deals with the issue with the same skill has in the past.

The focus of the talk is that the 'blog' - zerohedge.blogspot.com - now just zerohedge.com, has been dealing with the topic literally for 5 years.  As a high school student, your dinosaur of a teacher keeps telling you that blogs are useless, that they are just regular people who don't know anything, unlike the 'experts' in the Mainstream Media.

Lesson: Analyze the blogs you read carefully, and look for reason and evidence to assign value to the site - NOT the name of the corporation at the top of the page.  Here is the page from April 10th, 2009 from ZH that exposed HFT.  It has been doing it ever since.  It is where I learned of the practice, and I adjusted my investing habits accordingly.  It was a blog, and it was so far ahead of the curve it isn't even funny.

EF Podcast #3 - Why I Use a $20 Gold Certificate as an Avatar

"Twenty Dollars in Gold Coin payable to the bearer on demand"

What was the Gold Standard?  Why do I use an image of an old $20 bill as my avatar / image?

The gold standard did two things that people in power and governments severely dislike: 1) it limited their power and reach and 2) it placed power and independence in the hands of the regular people.

Money backed by gold can't be printed, because gold can't be arbitrarily printed or created.  This limits the ability of governments to create war and exercise power over institutions or people.  The reason why the US gov't has devolved into a rapacious empire is because there is practically no limit to any cost.  Wars all over the planet? Not a problem.  Prisons out of control and a Police State to monitor the Herd?  No problem.  Big Business wants to capture a sector of the economy by creating a regulatory thicket to block the little guy?  No problem as gov't will create a department and enact legislation to crush small independent people.  How much will all of that cost?  Doesn't matter as the Federal Reserve will create the debt, monetize it and it is now "paid" for.

If you had the ability to open your browser, go to your bank account and move the decimal place around, or add numbers as you saw fit - you'd be thrilled.  The idea is a silly one, but that is what the FED can, and does, do.

How it came to be that way and how to find out more - see below:

Books:

• The Creature from Jekyll Island, G. E. Griffin
• What has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray Rothbard
• A History of Money and Banking, by Murray Rothbard (links to a PDF download)
• Pieces of Eight, by Edwin Vieira
• The Case for Gold, by Ron Paul and Lewis Lehrman

Facebook Follies - part 27

There is some debate going on about the ACA, also known as "Obamacare".  Of course Obamacare will contribute to the bankruptcy of the United States.  It won't do as much damage as Medicare or Social Security, or Bush's Medicare Part D, but it will simply speed up the train as it barrels toward the burning trestle.

Someone who sits in the 1st pew of the Church of the State took my and someone else's free market (and hence negative) views of the program as sacrilege  - he was OFFENDED.  In the below exchange you'll see how logical fallacies, logical leaps and poor attempts at obfuscation rule the day on Facebook.  Unfortunately for this person, he ran into a buzzsaw - me.

FS and I agree on the moral reprehensibility of the ACA.  NLB loves his masters, God - oops - government will heal all, and it is the beneficent overlord of the economy as well.  I used to be surprised that people thought this way, but I am naive no longer.  Take a look:

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FS -  What I would like, is for the position of "hey, let's not force each other to do things" to be recognized as a legitimate human right and not be chastised as being a crazy extremist position. Especially when I am caught between two factions: one that wants to take my money and throw it TO people they do like and the other which wants to take my money and throw it AT people they don't like.

Mr. M - Mr. S you are correct, but you're going down a thoughtful path that many cannot understand as they've been addled and bamboozled. In order for healthcare to be a 'right', then you make healthcare workers slaves, as they are forced to provide their services as one has a 'right' to those services. The free market works, is has worked, but one must go back (in US history) at least 100 years to see even a facsimile of such a market. Once the AMA and the Rockefeller foundation got its claws in the medical establishment, the downward cycle began.

(side note - I was thinking of this article when I wrote this.  I will add italics to NLB's intellectually limited response)

NLB - I guess we'll all find out soon enough how monumentally the ACA destroys the good and pure market system I suspect we'll be just fine.
And Dcm, Last I checked there were plenty of major crashes pre-1900. Check your history. It's only in the highly market regulated 50s-70s that the boom-bust cycle took a break.
LOL the only country in the world where people talk like this, as though we're all goddamn mercenaries and everyone else can go f*** themselves. It's truly our national religion. "Yeah, screw the greater good." Rah rah, America. *sigh*
And yes, you are aligning yourself with a very common political position, FS, all assertions to the contrary.

MR. M - "check your history". Ok. I think I will, but only if you go through the reams of evidence that show that the business cycle is affected only by gov't intrusion. The boom / bust cycle is caused by 3rd party intrusion - it's why the French, when asked by the gov't officials 200 yrs ago said 'laissez faire' - let us be. I suggest von Mises' magnum opus, "Human Action", where he demolishes the views you seem to have adopted. Another good choice is Murray Rothbard's "America's Great Depression", where he showed that the FED and the US Treasury caused the Great Depression by the artificial expansion of credit. It's why you never hear of the Great Depression of 1921, because the federal gov't did....nothing and it was over in 18 months, and the downturn post WWI was worse than the one in 1929. Rothbard's "Man, Economy and State" is if you want the full monty, and not just an isolated American study. You can also go through Isabel Paterson's "Ghost in the Machine" - a great read, written in the WWII era when her views were unpopular. Albert J. Nock's "Our Enemy, the State" will, if you're looking for an analysis of the 17th and 18th centuries, do the job of showing you how government is the enemy of the people. For the 'happy ending' you can go through Carroll Qugley's "Tragedy and Hope" (B Clinton's mentor - mentioned by name in his DNC acceptance speech in 1992) for an insider's view of how the Big Banks have been intruding and, via the Morgans, Rockefeller's et al, taking over what was once a free economy and a free people. He wrote it after having 2 yrs of access to the papers of the CFR. Of course they broke the plates because it caused such a stir, but that's just coincidence.

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It was the "check your history" comment and the "It's only in the highly market regulated 50s-70s that the boom-bust cycle took a break." comment that made me write all of that.  Telling me to check my history is one thing, but the 50's - 70's is purely odd, as 2 minutes of analysis blows it away.  Our economy now is multiple times more regulated, and we have no vestiges of a gold standard, and our boom bust cycle is out of control.  The guy makes no sense.  Notice the arrogant *sigh*, as NLB takes the pseudo high road, after making so many unfounded assumptions about freedom and the free market that his response becomes a parody.  FaceBook is usually not worth it to go bananas like that on someone, as he won't read any of those things, but there might be an enterprising person, or a critical thinker who will, and then it is worth it.  In the space below I posted this link, not for NLB, but for one of the Remnant: