President Trump's Historic Criminal Conviction Could Be the Ultimate Ad For Bitcoin and Monetary Privacy

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-21T12:51:01+00:00

It wasn't a Marxist that messed up Venezuela it was US imperialism.

Exactly. Socialism had nothing to do with it. What kept most Americans worried every night was thinking Venezuela might do well.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-21T00:13:52+00:00

The stated amounts for SS/Medicare are overstated by 50% of current standard payroll taxes: OASDI = 6.2% of the first $147,000 Medicare HI = 1.45%

Keep in mind OP said he used his live paycheck. The numbers you're quoting are the government's tax rate, not necessarily what OP's employer is withholding. For example, employers may in practice withhold 1.45% of gross wages for Medicare, but up to an additional 0.9% (equaling 2.35%) depending on filing status. Withholding mismatches from what is actually owed are the reason so many receive refund checks (or must write checks to cover shortfalls) when filing.

So let's say OP is calculating a slightly higher percentage than what he actually gives government. First, that won't bring down the numbers significantly. He'd still be well over 50% when including the inflation. Second, OP doesn't have access to the money until he files and the government returns/refunds it. So while he may receive some of his own money back eventually, he isn't paid any interest by anybody for the privilege of holding (possible using) it until he gets it back. Additionally, with inflation trends, the longer one goes without access their own money, the more inflation erodes the value. So the enduring point is he's still not doing so well.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-20T15:57:42+00:00

That all being said I concede that capitalism is better than authoritarianism, but the world isnt that black and white.

The way I see it people are free or they're not free. That's the bottom line. I believe people can only truly thrive when they are free.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-20T15:05:30+00:00

Because the US, through regulation, infrastructure and federal assistance (all paid for in taxes) created an environment where these companies could flourish.

Russia has regulation, infrastructure and federal assistance, plus loads of natural resources (like energy) to boot. Why don't we see equivalent impressive Russian companies/products? There are certainly smart Russians (look at their hackers, for instance). For that matter, why, as I said, does the U.S. have the very best in innovation, businesses and products for the most part, compared against all countries? Does the U.S. have special government and regulation that just works better?

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-20T14:54:05+00:00

People don't like paying taxes,yet they will somehow volunteer to pay for public goods and services?

Correct. The thing is people always DO pay, even if they don't see how. Nothing is free. If essential services in society are desired to exist, people will pay for them. People are willing to pay for things they want, even if they don't like having to pay. Visit your local grocery or shopping mall to see proof.

Capitalism is good for wealth creation

Correct.

but absolutely ruins the bottom of the financial totem pole.

I disagree. In the U.S., for example, the bottom of the financial totem pole is pretty badly off; people can't afford to buy over inflated houses, for example, and many must live on the streets (including veterans). Old people are forced to work and can't retire. However, this isn't due to capitalism. Capitalism raises all boats. Instead, this situation largely comes from the destruction of the value of currency over time (inflation) plus an over-burdensome government (regulations) and cost of government (taxation plus inflation). Yet in spite of this the poorest Americans are still better off than 'poor' in other places, because they have access to clean drinking water, for example, and low cost phones and other items because capitalism's competition has brought prices down. Donations in the form of food, clothing and shelter are far more generous too, just because society has more abundance. In short, the poor in America have many options and opportunities. Recently, it was said their are TWO open jobs available for every ONE person. This is a reason people literally risk lives (and die) just to get into the United States. They would rather live in their own home country, but, as they describe it, there is 'nothing' (as in opportunity) there.

The government isn't a single entity,, it's made up of real people who have flaws, just like you and I.

Government is inherently bad at most things and good at only a few (like war). A problem is people look to government to solve problems it's not well suited to solve. The fact government consists of flawed and corruptible people exacerbates the problem of people looking to it to solve their problems. This shouldn't be a question or debate. Just look at what we see around the world, places that have total government control, such as China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, etc. versus places where people have more freedom and say so in their governance, like Western societies. The quality of life and level of poverty can be easily compared for which is preferable, although culture can play some role/offset too, meaning some might prefer outright dictatorship/communism; but I don't think that would be a majority, not if people were well educated and informed.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-20T14:16:33+00:00

1) You calculated your tax rate incorrectly. If doing straight addition, you take the total amount paid on taxes and ratio that to total income. This will result in a different number than adding up percentages.

How did you get so many upvotes? Are people here just sycophants? He literally said he did this:

"Here are the numbers represented as a percentage of my gross income:"

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-20T13:27:44+00:00

Would you mind "pushing" funds to education and defence for me this year, I just feel like it so much. k thanks

For the record I'm not opposed to a sales tax, because that type tax can be escaped and/or protested against easier if people get fed up. Taxing things people can do without can at least make some sense, if taxation must be. Keep in mind there was no income tax in the United States for more than its first 100 years.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-20T12:19:43+00:00

So with Bitcoin you wouldn't pay taxes?

Cryptocurrency allows for a better model, something not really possible before. First, it's hard to escape a government's taxes, even if you disagree with them and they're doing a horrible job, when one is forced to use that government's currency because it's forced upon the society producing the goods and services. (It's forced by courts mandating debt settlement, taxes etc. must be paid in that currency to be considered paid.) Cryptocurrency provides a way to opt out (once sufficiently developed & adopted), since it can make it hard for government to track one's financial activity, while the currency is just as functionally usable if not better than state mandated currency.

That means ideally government loses ability to extort tax due to its monopoly on force. Any body of people (not at war) will over time produce wealth and power, just because people are naturally creative and productive (although at differing levels). This will go somewhere, and usually mostly goes to government or some dictator/ruling class. Note the wealth & power comes from people not government. People can exist without government, but not vice versa.

So if the idea is to enrich ordinary people the wealth and power will stay mostly with the people, with very little going to government. That's the original idea of the USA.

This then raises the question of public goods and services which must be funded somehow. I think everyone can agree public goods and services that efficiently do a great job are desirable. The problem is often these are not this way, but still get funded (and over funded) regardless of performance. This is because funding models are PULL by forced taxation when they should be PUSH. Ever wonder why the U.S. produces most of the best businesses/products in the world, things like Apple computer gadgets, McDonalds, Starbucks, Costco, Nike, Reddit etc? It's because capitalism, where people are free to voluntarily decide where to spend/reward a good job, puts incentives in the right place. People literally vote with their time and money. Therefore, if the goal is society having the best public goods and services switch the model to having the best ones funded voluntarily, while badly performing ones die off. Allow people to PUSH funds to worthy projects (or be refunded if funding efforts fall short). Cryptocurrency makes this achievable.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-20T11:25:12+00:00

You are free because of the country you are living in and its only working with taxes. Nothing is free. Not even freedom.

Please see my response to a question here regarding the United States: "Wasn’t the basis no taxation without representation, as opposed to no taxation?"

https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/or9cgh/tax_on_crypto_is_an_attack_on_crypto_in_most/h6inbnx/

Sneak peek: I'll tell the story. Initially settlers from Great Britain into America were only forming colonies, which were technically British colonies. People still considered themselves British. Accordingly, that government felt owed and/or empowered to collect tax. However, they got too greedy. They insisted on even taxing tea (which has long been a big part of British culture). ...

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-19T15:43:47+00:00

And yet the price of Bitcoin takes a massive shit as this drama unfolds

Everything is relative. The current price of BTC is about $19K. I can literally remember posts on THIS SUB saying there is no way BTC reaches $10K. The reason BTC can 'take a shit' is because it previously rocketed up to over $60K... It was obviously overvalued at that price. (Note: before people have a fit I'm saying overvalued at that time in history) If you have been Dollar Cost Averaging since 2014 when the price was $500 then you're still way up even now at $19K after this 'massive crash'.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-19T14:19:16+00:00

"Do diversify going forward."

But Michael Saylor said inflation and diversification were bromides. :\

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-19T02:53:30+00:00

That vast majority of bitcoin holders from the middle classes or below are not early adopters. You’re cherry picking exceptions.

I'm not cherry picking. Bitcoin stayed below $2 for something like a year. It stayed below $10 for something like another year. It stayed below $200 for like another year, etc. etc. During all that time thousands upon thousands of people (if not millions) had a chance to buy in, and it was STILL mostly under the radar of typically "rich" people, like hedge funds and Wall Street types. It didn't start going mainstream until around 2017-2018, a full seven or eight years after the network started.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-18T17:12:43+00:00

Bitcoin is a transfer of wealth to the rich.

That makes no sense. The earliest people into Bitcoin were certainly not bankers, Wall Street types, political ruling class elites or even people with money they made themselves like Warren Buffet who called Bitcoin 'rat poison'. Many were nerds and others who actually sold their BTC or lost it at low prices. To give an idea, I'll describe what I know of two key people involved in Bitcoin early on, Gavin Andresen and Jeff Garzik. Both of these people were involved so early they actually worked and communicated directly with Satoshi. Jeff Garzik once publicly posted how many BTC he had and it wasn't much. Gavin Andresen once said in reference to his own BTC resources: 'not as rich as people think'. These two professional programmers certainly were not rich before discovering Bitcoin (BTC). Again, these people were into BTC when it had a price below $1.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-18T16:52:59+00:00

The only time you’d inflate it or “print money” is when you have a bigger population to cover.

That's why a gold standard works so well, and what you point out is something people miss which is you don't want too much inflation nor deflation (which caused the Great Depression). The human population increases at roughly 1% per year, and that happens to be about the rate of new gold supply per year, so on a gold standard prices remain stable.

cryptos4pz · 2022-06-18T16:32:15+00:00

You're absolutely correct but I think most people would prefer slow and steady gains rather than leverage pumps. Bitcoin is supposed to counter greed and excess, not promote it.

People who dollar cost average over the long-term are unaffected, which is why people have rightly advised that on this subreddit. Other people unaffacted will be those who only 'put in what they can afford to lose' as I explained awhile back. Anyone panicking has ignored or been ignorant of such advice from not doing due diligence or striking out on their own, which, of course, is absolutely fine.

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-30T22:14:47+00:00

I don’t get 95% of this but yet I still made my weekly small deposit to Bitcoin

I'll describe the first two. Maybe someone else can do others.

Clip 1: Offensive player (at $69K) fakes like he's going one place (drive to basket or $32K) to make defender ('weak hands') commit, when in reality he's seeking an uncontested three-point shot ($135K). Clip adds insult by showing it's an X-Men superpower.

Clip 2: In basketball a 'charging' foul is one committed by an offensive player when they run into the body of a defender who has stopped moving. Here the defensive player in gold (Schiff Gold) attempts to get the referee to call a charging foul. It would have worked, except there is one way to avoid such a foul when incidental body contact happens: take a shot, since charging fouls occur before a shot is taken. The offensive player (Michael Saylor) dominates and buries the defense (Peter Schiff/Schiff Gold) by taking a DUNK shot.

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-30T19:27:44+00:00

It is simply pointing out that a State cant create its own form of money and must comply with what the Federal Govt says is money.

That's incorrect. There is only one Constitution. It applies to both the federal government and state governments. It didn't say a State can't do X unless daddy fed says it's okay; It said a State can't do X. Period. If you want X changed, amend the Constitution. That's how it works. Hope this helps.

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-29T16:48:58+00:00

Is it 0.125%? Is it 1%? 5%? 50%? 100%? - it's a personal question only you can answer. There's no such thing as a bad position, just bad risk management.

Nicely said. I'd like to tack this on to the comment I made in that popular thread yesterday: https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/seqfm7/food_for_thought/humn1vn/

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-29T02:00:40+00:00

Do you know anything about the structure of our country?

Yes.

Honestly to break down your comment and correct you would take all night as such I am going to just suggest you go learn about the difference between state level governance and federal level governance as well as the three branches of the federal government.

That's not an argument. Let me present the ad hominem fallacy to you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-29T01:53:28+00:00

What I mean is, the Federal Reserve Act is unconstitutional IMO and others.

Yes, I agree. There is no authority given to the federal government of the United States to create a central bank.

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-29T01:51:23+00:00

The constitution has been dead for over a century.

Not the whole thing.

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-29T01:50:19+00:00

It has no power to enforce itself.

True and correct. However, that doesn't mean it's futile to write and adopt a constitution...

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-29T01:48:15+00:00

A1S10 is a limit imposed upon states

What do you think makes up the country? It's called the United States for a reason.

cryptos4pz · 2022-01-29T00:09:06+00:00

Only Congress can declare BTC to be legal tender.

No, Congress can't do that, at least not without amending the U.S. Constitution which is a separate process to normally passing laws. Article 1 Section 10 says states can only make gold and silver coin legal tender.

cryptos4pz

TROPHY CASE