First, in video form (below the fold). h/t before it’s news.
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— And then in the form of press releases / info-ads talking about bitcoins, one of which includes a video of its own.
Here’s a bit of the transcript, which, sure, reads like a late-night infomercial. But tell me: has anyone here invested? Because my wife and are seriously considering it. It’s only because we are building a new home (perfect timing, right?) that we haven’t looked at it more closely…
Michael Robinson:
You know, Mike, this is a really fascinating piece of economic history in the United States.
It all started in 1921.
Now back then we were in the middle of one of the worst depressions in U.S. history.
Remember, this pre-dates the Great Depression, but this is a big one.
It was a scary time in America.
Our GDP plummeted, the equivalent of $1 trillion of our economic value today.
Gone, in the blink of an eye… in 18 months.
Our dollar plunged over 17%…
Dropped right off a cliff.
So Thomas Edison blames all of this chaos on the Federal Reserve.
And you know what, he was right.
He believed that, even though we had a gold-backed dollar…
money houseThe Fed still had far too much power to manipulate our money supply and economy.
Mike Ward:
It sounds like Thomas Edison hit the nail on the head here.
That’s exactly what caused our 2008 recession, our financial crisis.
Edison saw it coming.
Edison’s Plan to Decimate the Fed’s Power
Michael Robinson:
Without question.
Edison’s solution was to weaken the Fed’s power.
Now, how do you weaken an institution with centralized power?
Simple.
You decentralize it.
So as an inventor, Edison does what inventors do.
He sits down and invents a free market-driven dollar.
Edison Engineered His Money to Be Decentralized…
Decentralized across 36 commodities…
Decentralized across 12 warehouses…
Six in the cotton states, six in the wheat states.
Dollar networkAnd the only way new money could be created, would be if new commodities were added to those warehouses.
So Edison takes his plan to the Governor of the Fed, the New York Fed…
The heads of national banks.
Mike, guess what?
They buried Edison’s Dollar movement before he could ever get it started.
Mike Ward:
So how was Edison’s vision kept alive all these years.
An Underground Movement Kept Edison’s Plan Alive
evalution of the edison dollarMichael Robinson:
By a trail of breadcrumbs, Mike, that a few influential people followed.
Edison Dollars were initially championed by Henry Ford.
So a free market capitalist gets behind a free market dollar.
And the trail starts…
Edison, to Ford…
Then it leads to Irving Fisher.
Fisher was a famous economist, who believed that the money supply should increase along a fixed set of rules, with no Fed intervention.
He was a major supporter of Edison Dollars.
Now, it leads to one of Fisher’s protégés…
John Maynard Keynes.
In 1944, at the Bretton Woods meetings…
Keynes proposes his own, commodity-backed currency…
He called it Bancor.
Here’s the difference…
This is important…
Edison wanted to overhaul the U.S. dollar.
Keynes wanted to overhaul all currencies.
Now we have to follow those breadcrumbs again.
Nobel Prize-Winning Economist, Milton Friedman enters the scene.
Dr. Milton Friedman Had a Critical Role to Play
Mike Ward:
You interviewed Milton Friedman years back.
He discussed the role you found he played in this evolution of Edison’s new money.
Michael Robinson:
That’s correct, Mike.
Dr. FriedmanpDr. Friedman and I were talking at his condo in San Francisco…
His wife was with him, you know, they’re great people.
So we’re having this incredible conversation, and at one point he tells me, point blank…
Michael, we don’t need the Fed.
Just replace it with a computer.
And, I should say, he started promoting this idea heavily after we talked.
He wanted this computer to print these dollars on a set schedule.
Month after month, week after week, year after year, like clockwork.
The same number of dollars is printed.
No more, no less.
Edison Dollars were low tech.
Friedman fixed that.
Mike Ward:
From Edison to Ford to Fisher to Keynes to Friedman…
They kept upgrading the original vision…
But in 2009, we hit a point where the economic conditions were just right for a 21st century version of Edison Dollars to appear.
21st Century Edison Dollars Rise Up
Michael Robinson:
Mike, what emerged was a perfect version of Edison Dollars…
Backed by multiple commodities
Free market driven
Inflation-proof
The money supply is controlled
Same amount printed on a set schedule
It cannot be manipulated by any central banker, or any governmentBecause it eliminates, not only the Fed’s centralized power…
But that of all central banks.
The only way to make all of this possible was for Edison Dollars to be reborn high-tech.
As a digital currency.
One created to act just like virtual gold.
But also backed by an even more powerful commodity…
Energy, Mike.
Every day so much energy is allocated into maintaining this virtual currency…
It could power 31,000 American homes.
And its network isn’t 12 decentralized warehouses across America…
These modern Edison Dollars are stored in a decentralized network of millions upon millions of computers across the world.
If you took the top 500 super computers on the planet…
All 500, and combined them…
This virtual currency’s network would be 8 times stronger than that.
And this movement is growing at light speed.
We just saw a 1,500% increase in trading activity on it.
In U.S. dollars…
In euros, you name it…
In only 3 months.
These modern Edison Dollars have now surpassed the total value of 20 national currencies.
When have you ever heard of something that big, growing that fast?
Mike, these are 21st century Edison Dollars.
I’m talking about Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is the Realization of Thomas Edison’s Dream.
Mike Ward:
Michael, a lot of folks have heard of Bitcoin.
And it’s unleashed a firestorm in the press.
I want to read some of these quotes for you now.
Forbes, Bitcoin: “the currency of a $10 trillion dollar global market.”
Time magazine, this concept is “perfect money.”
Fox Business, Bitcoin may become “the world’s payment method of choice.”
The Washington Post, quoted experts calling Bitcoin:
“The Holy Grail…”
“Astonishingly Secure…”
“Anonymous…”
“Invisible to the Taxman…”
“It Could Soon Rival the Dollar.”And it’s not just the press supporting Bitcoin, Michael.
Ron Paul said dollar alternatives like Bitcoin are:
Ron Paul“Fantastic.”
“They offer freedom of choice.”
“They’re commodities that offer better value than what the Fed is printing.”
The VP of PayPal, Bitcoin “the perfect currency by design.”
Bill Gates: Bitcoin is a “Techno-Tour de Force.”
Now, this one is particularly intriguing.
The CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, had this secret meeting in the UK.
He was there with the vice president of the council on foreign relations…
Bill gatesAnd a former advisor to the Secretary of State…
They were talking about how Bitcoin helps overcome problems people have with central banks.
It operates like gold, like gold mining…
And that Bitcoin is going to be worth a lot of money.
Michael, you’ve got the Bitcoin Revolution covered from a lot of angles.
Your background in venture capital where all this money is flowing into Bitcoin.
Your Silicon Valley, technology background.
Your investment background.
So let’s start with a very important question.
How in this day and age is Bitcoin even possible?
What Sparked the Bitcoin Revolution?
Michael Robinson:
The global economy is based on hocus pocus, on magic.
The magic wand of central bankers and greedy governments.
So to understand the “how’s and why’s” of Bitcoin, you have to step back and look at all the pieces of a very big puzzle.
Take our dollar.
It’s lost 96% of its value since 1913…
The Australian Dollar, it’s fallen 99% over that same period.
The Canadian Dollar, 95%.
The British Pound, down 99%.
chartWarren Buffett recently stated the obvious about all of this.
He publicly said:
Warren Buffet“People are Right to Fear Paper Money.”
“It’s Only Going to Be Worth
Less and Less Over Time.”
– Warren BuffettThese currencies are dying in front of us.
None of us are blind to what’s going on.
Think about 2009, when Bitcoin launched.
The entire world was stuck in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Everyone, starts pointing their fingers at their banks, their governments…
And of course, people started looking for options.
Now, what’s been happening since 2009?
Ungodly amounts of money printing, quantitative easing, and zero-percent interest rates, as far as the eye can see.
Mike, people just get fed up.
Bitcoin is a Global Rebellion Against the Fed,
Against All Corrupt Central Banks.
At Its Essence, Bitcoin is About Control.But, the picture is still bigger than that.
Go on Mastercard’s website, why do they think Bitcoin is popular?
Their words, not mine…
“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”
And with Bitcoin “there’s no sovereign credit risk.”
Look at Cyprus, the government tried to steal money from its citizens’ bank accounts.
So more people start looking around…
They’re saying who can you trust?
What currency do you trust?
What investments do you trust?
And from all of this demand for trust and control comes the Bitcoin Revolution.
And it became unstoppable.
But is Bitcoin Even Money?
Mike Ward:
Now, the fact that Bitcoin is this virtual currency…
Michael Robinson:
Every currency is a virtual currency.
Mike Ward:
I don’t think there are too many people who disagree with that notion.
But this is what led a lot of folks in world governments and central banks to ignore Bitcoin until it had grown so big and powerful, they couldn’t anymore.
But is Bitcoin even money?
Michael Robinson:
Yes, Bitcoin, absolutely is money.
Because there is no central bank, it’s money that runs through this decentralized network around the world.
Bitcoin is created at a set amount…
In set time increments.
There’s no manipulating it.
That’s why everyday folks look at Bitcoin, how it behaves, as a virtual gold standard.
Mike Ward:
You’re absolutely right there, but governments and central banks, when Bitcoin emerged they looked at it as some fly-by-night operation.
The Foolish Mistake Central Banks Made
When They Overlooked BitcoinMichael Robinson:
They made a very big mistake, Mike.
This foolish view overlooks an important detail.
Just to keep Bitcoin running, it requires vast amounts of people to pool their computers to power this decentralized network.
I talked about this figure earlier…
Take the top 500 supercomputers…
The ones being used by governments, militaries, monster tech companies…
Combine them all into one super-super-super computer.
Then make eight of them.
That’s how powerful the Bitcoin network is.
super computerMike Ward:
It’s worth mentioning that, you don’t have to, I don’t have to…
We don’t have to join this network to trade Bitcoin, or invest in Bitcoin.
Michael Robinson:
No, we don’t.
All folks need to understand is this network isn’t going anywhere.
And Bitcoin is not some fad, or some hyped-up story.
You can’t walk into Walmart, CVS, NIKE, Lowe’s.
Into 700,000 American businesses…
They’re not accepting seashells for purchases.
Western Union has been in business 160 years.
It transferred $79 billion to over 200 countries last year.
MoneyGram has been in business 70 years.
Last year it transferred $1.26 billion dollars across 197 countries.
They aren’t doing money transfers with baseball cards.
The French Banking system has fully integrated Bitcoin – meaning you can get your salary paid in it.
And there are 200,000 American businesses equipped to pay salaries in Bitcoin…
They’re not equipped to pay salaries in fancy beads.
Look at Bitcoin as an electronic transaction or payment.
One with no borders and no country.
A Currency With No Borders… No Country…
No Crooked Central BankMike Ward:
That really is the best way to explain it.
I mean after all, when we pull that dollar out of our wallets and put it in our bank account…
credit cardOr you pull out your credit card, make a wire transfer, go online and pay a bill…
Those are all electronic transactions.
Exactly, like Bitcoin.
Michael Robinson:
Now, MoneyGram becoming a major Bitcoin player…
And the president of PayPal admitting they’re considering accepting Bitcoin…
This is a big deal.
We need to take a moment to stop and think about what this means.
It’s critical folks understand where everything could be heading.
PayPal processes 60% of all web transactions.
So imagine Bitcoin getting some slice of that.
south americaeBay is a $14.5-billion-a-year business.
And its Latin American divisions are already accepting Bitcoin.
Imagine if every eBay division does the same thing.
But now, let’s step back and think even bigger.
Bitcoin is in the Early Stages of Being Integrated
into Every Internet Browser… All Of ThemThis technology is already available for both Chrome and Firefox…
Microsoft prepared an internal report on Bitcoin where they described it as “a radical new approach to monetary systems.”
That means Internet Explorer may not be too far behind.
We need to take a moment to stop and think about what this all means.
When this next phase happens…
It will instantly put Bitcoin in front of every person with an internet connection in the world.
Now let’s add another piece…
The Technology Has Now Been Launched to
Integrate Bitcoin into Every Email and Every CellphoneIt’s amazing.
envelopesThere are 107 trillion, that’s trillion emails sent out a year.
So put those pieces together.
MoneyGram, Western Union – online wire transfers.
eBay – online auctions.
Every internet browser.
Every email.
Mike, we’ve got global online sales, landing somewhere around $10 trillion a year now.
And Bitcoin is on the verge of being in the mix with it all.
Mike Ward:
Michael, if Bitcoin captures 1% or 5% of these markets look out.
Michael Robinson:
It’s not stopping there.
We’ve got to keep going down this road.
world map/cell phoneCellphones are also in play.
iPhone and Android apps have already been built to integrate into the Bitcoin network.
There are 6 billion cellphones in the world.
And it’s estimated mobile phone transactions will soon surpass $617 billion a year.
So now imagine you open up the box of your new cellphone and Bitcoin is already built inside.
Can the free market defeat cronyism, corporatism, and currency manipulation? Or is the world just about to be taken over by a bunch of progressive computer nerds who’ll probably hire Barrett Brown as one of their chief spokespeople?
I have no clue.
But I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.
The potential for mischief here seems unlimited. I love the idea, but the practice scares the hell out of me. I’ve been getting into safer things.
Currency works by signifying value, and by gaining general trust that the signified value will translate consistently into real value at the holder’s pleasure.
Bitcoin, in my estimation, has some way to go on that second part. I don’t collect boxtops because they are only accepted by certain merchants to get certain things; Bitcoin is more advanced than that, but not enough for my … money.
And seriously, the way new bitcoins come into existence? Sounds more like a video game to me than anything else. See Stocks & Bonds for an old board-game counterpart.
Ima getting a bit spooked but I still think I will hold off a bit before I bite on that. I am surely not someone from which to take financial advice though…nope, not a bit. As black hat Pabby, I suggest .22LR.
Lost me, seriously lost me immediately by opening the container and displaying tins of Spam.
Right there’s the tell he’s out of his goddamn mind.
Then second, comes immediately after two Spam caches, “I heard if from people who are high up.” }}}buzzer sound{{{{ appeal to unnamed authoritah.
As to bitcoin. It is a serious assault on the control over M1.
It means government actions that show fiscal irresponsibility and cavalier attitude toward extending debt in unfathomable figures through generations transmits clear ringing messages continuously that the Monopoly board game M1 money cranked out by this government is not taken seriously by this same government, it means the game is up on the faith long invested in that currency.
The currency rides on faith as if on air. There isn’t any faith anymore. Faith is displaced. It’s gone somewhere else. To bitcoin. Take away bitcoin and bitcoin reinvents itself to take in faith that is still displaced. It’s as simple as that. This is what happens when you piss on your own currency, as this government does. It’s what happens when money means nothing. When your money means nothing, you being the government that issues it, counting on faith sustaining it even as your own resolute policy shows conclusively money means nothing to you.
It means retirees on SS pensioners and the like must exchange their silly little US Monopoly board money to something useful like bitcoin or its successor.
Just as concerning is the way they go out of existence for all intents and purposes.
If I could find it at a reasonable price, I’d be all over it, Dave. Anytime you see it, it’s quantity restricted. My personal supply is not where I’d like it, let alone investment quantities.
PayPal already blended in, ingratiating itself usefully so that it became the only method of payment in some cases back and forth, for the nonce at least, unless there’s a way to change PayPal payments into US dollar bank account. There should be a way to shove it all the way through and not hang up the payment within PayPal.
I was paid in PayPal dollars, not much at all, but still thought, good, that goes to my bank account just as it is taken out of that account, the same thing in reverse, naturally, but no, payment stops at PayPal where it sits in wait for you to spend it.
Which I did. Bought something on eBay for a project expecting to pay from my bank account through PayPal. That’s how I found out, payment deducted automatically from the pile in my PayPal account. The payment was for writing, a thing I’d do anyway, it happened automatically without any input from me, except for the writing. From my point of view the physical object from eBay was free, but I was a bit bummed my PayPal bucks wouldn’t build up to a small mountain as I imagined it would, just by continuing doing that, no, it’s depleted by purchases along the way unless I fix that.
Sounds like bullshit to me.
Get rich quick through my fool proof work at home in your spare time turn-key precious metal real estate investment plan that God revealed to me while I was reading my Bible bullshit.
Not bullshit. If you watch the video, someone dies in 7 days.
Yeah. Today I learned that “inoperational” is not a word.
From my boss.
#somuchfail
Inoperative.
Or as we say roun’ heah, “dud’n work”.
“Inoperative.”
Obama’s promises.
“Or as we say roun’ heah, “dud’n work”
Obama’s ideas.
“[I]noperational”
Obama.
If Bitcoin doesn’t achieve the necessary breadth of trust to operate as a true currency, something will. Just as humans are political animals, so are we also economic animals. The development of money was inevitable, and will be again.
What is bitcoin backed by? Is there an actual physical asset bitcoins can be redeemed for?
Seems to me that if bitcoins are not backed by some sort of physical asset, bitcoin is just another fiat currency.
All currencies are backed by faith — even if it’s only faith that the government will redeem it for gold or whatever.
Mostly the dollar is backed by ones and zeroes, just like bitcoin.
So, bitcoin is a fiat currency, with the same intrinsic value as a dollar. Bitcoin maybe worth less than a dollar, because bitcoin needs a very technologically advanced society in order to function. At least one can take a paper dollar out of their pocket and buy something. Caching bitcoins at home against a failure of our electronic banking system doesn’t strike me as feasible.
>a failure of our electronic banking system<
can an emp could wipe out your bitcoin?
Fiat Money works when a Civilization is stable.
Bitcoin seems to be a new version of Fiat Money.
And The West is not stable.
Invest in those things that can be bartered and those things that you can use if need be – but they should all be within your grasp.
Mitch McConnell puts his ass on the line for you, and what does he get for his trouble?
http://dailycaller.com/2014/03/12/right-wing-mobs-say-it-isnt-so-conservatives/
Ungrateful bastards.
The biggest problem I see with bitcoins is the complete dependance on electricity. If the dollar tanks, how long is the power grid going to be stable?
At the exact time you need them most, bitcoins are going to be unavailable.
too few dollars being chased by too many trashy coward-assed piece of shit american whore senators
take your cap and leave my sweater, whore
>take your cap and leave my sweater<
a sweater vester pickachu
The problem with bitcoin is 3-fold.
It’s just another fiat currency. The value is entirely dependent on the system which created it. There is no recourse when bitcoins are stolen, and they are easily lost in computer mishaps.
The exchanges are both opaque and dishonest. Mt Gox is a warning, not an aberration.
The government will destroy the currency the moment it is seen to be a competitive threat. In fact they are already starting to do so. They are using the excuse of drug trading and gun running to stigmatize bitcoin users. Eventually they will ban their use as “money laundering” and start tracking the transactions. This is made trivial by the chain of custody inherent in any bitcoin-style digital currency. The bitcoin token itself retains records of every account that has held possession.
Jeez.
Why does gold have value?
People want it.
What makes gold valuable?
There’s a limited supply of it. It’s difficult to make more of it. It’s easy to test for counterfeiting.
Can you eat gold? Yes but you’ll starve to death doing so.
Can you drink gold? Not and live (liquid gold is hot).
Can you breath gold? Not and live (gaseous gold is *really* hot).
Does gold have any intrinsic use? Not really.
The idea behind bitcoins is that there is a limited supply of them (the math only allows so many to be “found”), they are difficult to create (due to the algorithm that defines them), and you can tell if they are fake or not.
And, like gold, you cannot eat, drink, or breath a bitcoin. They have no intrinsic use.
The sticky point is that someone has to want them. If you don’t have electricity or electronics, you very probably won’t care to own any bitcoins.