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$33 Million In Poker Winnings Seized By US Govt
An anonymous reader writes "A New York Times story reports that, 'Opening a new front in the government's battle against Internet gambling, federal prosecutors have asked four American banks to freeze tens of millions of dollars in payments owed to people who play poker online. ... "It's very aggressive, and I think it's a gamble on the part of the prosecutors," Mr. Rose said. He added that it was not clear what law would cover the seizure of money belonging to poker players, as opposed to the money of the companies involved.' Many players are reporting that their cashout checks have bounced."
There are no house odds in poker.
Just like the 1880s, right? Sure, you can live free if you're the upper crust. Otherwise, your life will be nasty, brutish, and short, and spent toiling away and never seeing more of your proceeds than you need to stay alive, barely. This isn't a nightmare scenario. It actually happened. It was called the Gilded Age, and we should be glad it ended. Why do extreme libertarians like you consistently deny the logical implications of your policies?
I can't eat a Youtube video. How do you think all the thousands of people who are paid to create internet content get paid? With currency only good on the internet? The Internet isn't some isolated bubble divorced from the real economy. It's enmeshed quite heavily: people order real, hard goods through it, put real capital derived from conventional industry into it, and spend the real money generated from it on tangible products.
I suppose I'm dealing with a true believer here. Of course there's a recession "in the internet": it makes as much sense to say "no recession in the internet" as it does to say "no recession on the telephone network".
Stop funding tasks that aren't improving urgent concerns
So in your world, nothing not urgent should be worked on? I take it you're not a fan of preventative maintenance then.
Yea see that too is the wrong extreme.
This is like doing the 'preventative maintenance' of washing your cars hubcaps, while something more 'urgent' is going on, like the engine block being on fire, a human arm hanging out of the partially closed trunk, and that horrid florescent pink and yellow paint job.
There's no guarantee whatsoever that the gamblers themselves weren't going to pay taxes on the money that they won.
Awesome excuse!
They should just say "No no your honor, we do not have *illegal* gambling! The house wasn't taking a cut, we were *withholding taxes*"
In "Who can steal more" competition. I believe this time they "score" more $$$ than mafia in the famous airport robbery.
Everyone knows these are just mob wars, plain and simple. The Sopranos get to control real-life casinos, and the Obamos get to control virtual casinos. Government is just a form of mafia, only the more so.
Intellectual Property: an immaterial non-entity, most fiercely contended by those with no proper intellect to speak of.
Wow, now that was a time when American's were educated. You can actually see it by the way they wrote.
Although, it's like this everywhere in the world. People used to speak so eloquently, as if they were writing a book as they spoke. Just, I don't know, the way they used their words, described things. That's one thing I liked about Clinton, he was kind of like that. You could tell he was very smart and educated, despite everything.