The Guardian has reported this morning that:
The co-founders of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital firm have announced their support for Donald Trump's bid for re-election, and plan to make substantial donations to back him further.
Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, the heads of Andreessen Horowitz, commonly known as A16Z, revealed their plans in a sprawling 90-minute podcast, in which they argued that the future of “American innovation” required a Trump victory.
There is a reason for their support. They are massive supporters of crypto-currency. They have been funding candidates in other elections on the basis of their support for it. New VP nominee, J D Vance is a massive fan of crypto too. They are booming in supposed value because of his nomination.
So what is this about? Very clearly it is about breaking three things.
The first is the sovereignty of the state, which is dependent on its power to create legal tender.
Second is the power to tax, which is dependent on the ability to trace the use of that legal tender.
Third, it is to break the power of the state to regulate the economy by creating parallel currencies that it cannot control and so impose its will.
This, then, is about ending the state as we know it.
The trouble, they have nothing to put in its place. They might think they are creating a route to freedom. They are actually creating a route to serfdom where we are all enslaved by forces beyond our control.
Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:
There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.
You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.
And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:
Buy me a coffee!
“They might think they are creating a route to freedom.”
They *know* they are creating a route to freedom. But it’s freedom for a few to batten off the many.
Whenever you hear politicians say ‘people’, ask: Who counts as people?
Whenever you hear politicians say freedom, ask: Freedom to do what?
Whenever you hear politicians say they want to grow the economy, or reform planning laws, or the NHS, ask: For whose benefit?
Politicians get away with it becuase they use weasel words that have a very specific meaning for them, but not for us. As in “I did not have sexual intercourse with that woman”. As in “All men are created equal”.
Much to agree with
Very well put; next time I find myself in a conversation about the merits of crypto, I’ll have your observations at my fingertips.
One could also add, of course, that crypto is about breaking our species’ life-support system by making inordinate demands on the generation of power.
And many other evils.
Your second para is very important too
But they think they can but themselves out of that
Or die their way out of that.
All these folk that hate government are the first to dial 911/999 when they have been robbed…. and complain when the police don’t show up.
They seem to think a world without government would be a return to the Garden of Eden…. but the reality is chaos and civil war. If you doubt this look at history.
I noticed this particularly in the Johnson era, very clever use of words without inferring anything specific negatively or positively.
There’s a big push from the right to be anti-establishment yet as we know it’s all about control. Follow the money as they say
Whenever a politician or supporter tells you that something provides freedoms (freeports, free trade, freedom from regulations), ask your self: “free for whom”? Because it probably won’t be you.
Free means free: from accountability and responsibility, enabling the freedom to exploit and pollute the environment.
Digital currencies gives those who control it, the ability in charge fees (private taxes), and the ability to disable it if you don’t abide by certain rules and regulation (e.g. until you pay your TV licence), and the ability to trace you (e.g. the people who purchased alcohol).
Do I trust the government, or Big Business, to use digital currencies responsibly?
Certainly not based on their track record.
Thanks
You finish “They are actually creating a route to serfdom where we are all enslaved by forces beyond our control.”
I expect you are making a reference to Hayek’s book ‘The Road to Serfdom’ (which Mrs Thatcher told her civll servants to read). Some regard it as the Bible of neo-liberalism, and it said that tyranny results from government control of economic decision making.
It is ironic -and tragic-that his prescription taken to extremes, produces the same result.
I made a comment on Europe (& UK) wrt USA. The latter is not our friend & has only ever done things to its advantage – & often our disadvantage.
Crypto is but a further example of the USA trying to impose something dangerous on the EU/UK.
& I agree – the aim is to reduce gov to ??? the military and summary justice?
The problem is that the central banks (BoE & ECB) instead of helping society they seem to have neither an understanding of societal tidal forces nor the threat that crypto poses to them.
Dangerious times.
Indeed Central Banks have been pushing CBDC Central Bank Digital Currency. Richard Werner has been warning of its possible consequences (perhaps a little too concerned?) :
at 57min https://tube.childrenshealthdefense.eu/w/da49083e-9742-4b11-bc68-53dcb585d3b9
His take on developing a decentralized banking system with many local not for profit banks funding business for real GDP (should focus on Green New Deal to cope with climate crisis) should be preferred, see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8M1mDy71QA
Crypto is a Ponzi scheme with ridiculously high energy costs that increase over time. It won’t last.
That’s because of the complexity of the block chain algorithm. There are more and less efficient ways of implementing it, but, in the end, there is no way of escaping the way the computation required grows with the length of the algorithm.
sorry length of the chain.
I suggest that the overwhelming advantage of a state currency is that contracts conducted in that currency are enforceable by the state. If one side defaults on a contract based on a cryptourrency, then the aggrieved party should have no redress
If I owe you £10 and have either transferred £10 to your bank account or can prove I have given you a £19 note, then I have unambiguously discharged the debt. In the case of cryptocurrencies it is not so clear that transferring a unit to your wallet discharges a debt. It depends on the precise wording of the contract I have with you. As I understand it this has been the subject of litigation, with various results.
£10 note!
You are right Richard. A world dominated by cryptocurrency is the road to serfdom; a dystopian nightmare.
Cryptocurrency is an oxymoron. Sovereignty is defined by the power to issue currency and to tax. When people speak of “my money” they are wrong. what they have with money, is an IOU. The IOU belongs to its issuer; the sovereign power, which can redeem it, or tax it. It is not ownership that people rely on when they speak of “my money”; it is the security they have a 100% guarantee that their IOU will be redeemed. Sovereignty of this kind is necessary for the survival of a community in an advanced 21st century world. Without the power to issue, guarantee, redeem and tax currency there cannot be a modern civilised world. This is non-negotiable
Cryptocurrency is an attempt to separate currency from sovereignty; from tax; from the guarantee redemption. Who guarantees a cryptocurrency? Who owns it? What is the security? Without the capacity to tax, to issue and redeem there is nothing there. No authority. No credibility. No security. And no trust. Cryptocurrency is hidden. It is secret; and beckons us to enter a world in which civilised community would be impossible.
Cryptocurrency first appeared around 2009, just after the financial crash. Merriam-Webster defines it as follows: “any form of currency that only exists digitally, that usually has no central issuing or regulating authority but instead uses a decentralized system to record transactions and manage the issuance of new units, and that relies on cryptography to prevent counterfeiting and fraudulent transactions”.
Much to agree with
@ Bernard Hurley (何熊心)
I did rather wonder about the £19 note.
Reminded me of the man who asked for change for his dodgy six pound note and was offered three twos or two threes. 🙂
And let’s not forget that arch supporter of ‘free speech’ – Elon Musk – promising to give the Trump campaign $45 million a month until the election.
At least we’re now seeing who the ‘Billionaires for Fascism’ are, no doubt all hoping that with a Trump victory the USA will rapidly follow the example of Russia under Putin, except with Trump already an old man (as Yeltsin was to Putin) it’s going to be interesting to see who the Fascists pick as his successor.
Ps. If anyone took the trouble to watch Trumps 90 minute ‘speech’ (ramble) to the Republican National Congress last night (scheduled of 45 minutes but Trump made up the rest) and think Biden has a problem you should think again.
But funny how none of the MSM are focusing in on that awful performance this morning. ‘Just Trump being Trump’ will be the response. And with that feeble excuse US democracy dies. Pathetic!