There are plenty of problems with banks:
A) Capital controls. If you look at the places that have had currency troubles this is the first thing that happens. It starts innocently enough, first you have to "declare" that you have a "large" amount of cash and fill out a form. Next there are limits to how much cash can be brought in and out of the country. Next there are limits to how much money you can take out of the ATM and spend on your debit card.
Funny. That was exactly the situation when I was a kid (gee, I'm getting old). No big deal. In fact, those measures kept the largest part of the money where it should be (in the real economy) while still permitting that it was taken abroad. Nowadays, most of the money is "invested" in "derivatives" (basically nothing more than an idea) on the other side of the world, so there is nothing left for you to take abroad.
B) Government reporting.
C) Possibility of collapse. I'm not just talking about a major economic crisis but minor ones such as 9/11 where many banks were not open and were not functioning fully.
Yep, this is an interesting one. Banks are on the verge of collapse every day. That is how banks work these days. But for some reason the people are not allowed to see it. A bank is one of the least safe places to put your money. Your money is spent on loans as soon as possible, only at that time the bank calls your money its own. Banks count on the fact that you will not be asking your money back. And if you and your fellow customers do want your money back, you are accused of a "bank run".
D) Inflation will eat up your savings. How much interest is your savings account earning? My guess is ~.5% depending on your bank. The Federal Reserve's official (manipulated) inflation statistics say inflation is at 2.3%, using the older methods of calculating inflation which are not prone to manipulation, inflation is somewhere around 5%. That means you are taking a guaranteed loss. Of course putting cash in something else such as gold, silver, stocks, land, or heck, bitcoins carries some risk, there is at least a potential for reward, it is not a guaranteed loss.
Which is a good thing off course. One of the bad things of money is that it can be kept forever and there is no limit to collecting it. If you were paid in food, you would only want as much food as you could eat (with your family and friends perhaps). But anything more would be senseless. But with money, you can "earn" the living of a complete village for yourself, and still want more.
Off course I reject all scripts from Google. And I use Ixquick for search. Third-party cookies should be disabled by default in modern browsers (and often are).
The Anti-personal mines will probably come with some anti-rat measures, like a not-too-fast rat poison (you don't want the rat corpse to mark the mine if you are the one that lays it).
I live in Europe, and the US do seem like bad guys time and time again. They even declared war on the Netherlands for housing the International Court of Justice. How bad can you be?
Like the fact that we slaughter our entire fauna when a cow has to sneeze? Like the fact that genetically modified crops are literally forced down our throats? Like that fact that no member state has any control over their own money anymore? Like the fact that some local fish have already gone extinct? Like the fact that co-housing is almost forbidden? If you are not a company, what positive gain is there?
Not really. That is "medical necessity". As my consent cannot be asked in such a case, an emergency decision is made. That is not my consent, not even implied, but I am probably very glad afterwards.
I would call it a Corporatocracy. Also, the fact that you cannot directly vote seriously hinders any chance of democracy. The indirect voting system makes sure that only one or two parties will have any chance at all. And those will not be the parties that dare to change.
So if you are a lawyer, you could work for either side and always win? If you don't win the case, you can take a percentage of the damages? Off course your contract would state that you would never participate in the losses of the case. In countries where "no cure, no pay" is allowed for lawyers (which is totally insane), this only makes matters worse.
Not entirely. There are two cases where magical thinking can help:
As a start in your thinking. At first, you want something and think it is impossible. After some more thought, you find out that there is a way to make it work
As a reminder. If you "prove" something with a magical explanation, you have made a correlation. That correlation might be very useful. It does not matter much if you believe that roar is a car engine or an angry traffic god for your survival (unless you pray and walk on instead of watching out)
Slashdot Mirror
There are plenty of problems with banks: A) Capital controls. If you look at the places that have had currency troubles this is the first thing that happens. It starts innocently enough, first you have to "declare" that you have a "large" amount of cash and fill out a form. Next there are limits to how much cash can be brought in and out of the country. Next there are limits to how much money you can take out of the ATM and spend on your debit card.
Funny. That was exactly the situation when I was a kid (gee, I'm getting old). No big deal. In fact, those measures kept the largest part of the money where it should be (in the real economy) while still permitting that it was taken abroad. Nowadays, most of the money is "invested" in "derivatives" (basically nothing more than an idea) on the other side of the world, so there is nothing left for you to take abroad.
B) Government reporting. C) Possibility of collapse. I'm not just talking about a major economic crisis but minor ones such as 9/11 where many banks were not open and were not functioning fully.
Yep, this is an interesting one. Banks are on the verge of collapse every day. That is how banks work these days. But for some reason the people are not allowed to see it. A bank is one of the least safe places to put your money. Your money is spent on loans as soon as possible, only at that time the bank calls your money its own. Banks count on the fact that you will not be asking your money back. And if you and your fellow customers do want your money back, you are accused of a "bank run".
D) Inflation will eat up your savings. How much interest is your savings account earning? My guess is ~.5% depending on your bank. The Federal Reserve's official (manipulated) inflation statistics say inflation is at 2.3%, using the older methods of calculating inflation which are not prone to manipulation, inflation is somewhere around 5%. That means you are taking a guaranteed loss. Of course putting cash in something else such as gold, silver, stocks, land, or heck, bitcoins carries some risk, there is at least a potential for reward, it is not a guaranteed loss.
Which is a good thing off course. One of the bad things of money is that it can be kept forever and there is no limit to collecting it. If you were paid in food, you would only want as much food as you could eat (with your family and friends perhaps). But anything more would be senseless. But with money, you can "earn" the living of a complete village for yourself, and still want more.
Off course I reject all scripts from Google. And I use Ixquick for search. Third-party cookies should be disabled by default in modern browsers (and often are).
The Anti-personal mines will probably come with some anti-rat measures, like a not-too-fast rat poison (you don't want the rat corpse to mark the mine if you are the one that lays it).
The Great Firewall of America? The USA is a lot like China these days...
Indeed. I am surprised that a domain hijacker (or TLD hijacker in this case) makes the news here.
No. "Protectionistic boot" is the most truthful term.
I live in Europe, and the US do seem like bad guys time and time again. They even declared war on the Netherlands for housing the International Court of Justice. How bad can you be?
The hardware (nuclear installations in this case) blowing up should be sufficient, I guess.
there's been far too many positive gains
Like the fact that we slaughter our entire fauna when a cow has to sneeze? Like the fact that genetically modified crops are literally forced down our throats? Like that fact that no member state has any control over their own money anymore? Like the fact that some local fish have already gone extinct? Like the fact that co-housing is almost forbidden? If you are not a company, what positive gain is there?
Not really. That is "medical necessity". As my consent cannot be asked in such a case, an emergency decision is made. That is not my consent, not even implied, but I am probably very glad afterwards.
Of course, it's still a democracy ...
I would call it a Corporatocracy. Also, the fact that you cannot directly vote seriously hinders any chance of democracy. The indirect voting system makes sure that only one or two parties will have any chance at all. And those will not be the parties that dare to change.
Well, the USA have already declared war on the Netherlands for housing the International Court of Justice. Nothing new, move along...
"Implied Consent" is the most stupid term I ever read.
So if you are referred to as "John Doe" (if your IP address was snooped somewhere, for instance), you cannot reply as John Doe?
Colour me surprised if cancer cells use Google to fight back.
"oxymoron". Is that a rusty moron?
Indeed. Cory Doctorow should file a patent on this. "Little Bother" seems to come true.
So if you are a lawyer, you could work for either side and always win? If you don't win the case, you can take a percentage of the damages? Off course your contract would state that you would never participate in the losses of the case. In countries where "no cure, no pay" is allowed for lawyers (which is totally insane), this only makes matters worse.
By "the hard way" I was assuming a rebirth of sneakernet.
Yep. France != US. However much they try to be the Americans of Europe.
True, but ICBMs don't mind. That is why they are called Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles.
Countries that have an internet disconnect are by definition struggling with democracy.
And, as a reaction, they outlawed the internet entirely with SOPA / CRIPPA / Heaven knows what the law is called today?
Not entirely. There are two cases where magical thinking can help:
And if the time has run out, just go through L-space and fix it.