by Anthony Freeman
Man, by nature, wants to be free. He wants to choose how he lives his life. He wants to choose with whom he will associate. He wants to choose with whom he will trade. He wants to choose how his money is spent. Bitcoin gives him a greater ability to do all of these.
In my previous posts (here, here, here and here) I point out the endearing features of bitcoin and the direct threat of bitcoin to governments and central banks. Because bitcoin has the potential to make these institutions obsolete, expect them to attempt to ban and restrict bitcoin anyway they can.
The incentives to use bitcoin are too great. Yes, I expect bitcoin to be “banned” and restricted by central planners in many ways. I also expect these bans and restrictions to be ignored and circumvented. The incentives are too great. Man wants to be free.
Economics and Liberty 
Banning is one thing, but when the storm-troopers track down business owners accepting bitcoin as payment, heads will get cracked as an example to the rest of the bitcoiners.
Gestapo tactics will be employed.
JA
It’s unlikely that the population will tolerate this. Politicians can only push the boundaries so far.
The population will tolerate skull cracking and much more if it is followed by a massive propaganda campaign where Bitcoin users are painted as child pornographers, child molesters, terrorists, satan worshipers etc etc, In modern government skull cracking always follows a massive propaganda campaign which most of the population will follow as they always have. And in a democracy, you just need the majority backing you. Don’t underestimate the state and don’t overestimate the “population”. They will let you down.
That is depends on the next election.
USA is not a communist country.
The Govt is controlled by the people.
> The Govt is controlled by the people
Umm . . . Maestro,
The US Government controlled by the people?!!! It’s sort of true . . .
That depends what kind of people you are. If you’re a corporate leader with lots of campaign donation dollars to spend, then yes, the government is influenced by your kind of people.
If you’re a Joe factory worker in Saginaw, Michigan- your kind of people have such a tiny influence on the government that you should just forget about wasting your time on politics and try to stay out of the way of the stupider and nastier things the government does.
> USA is not a communist country
You’re absolutely right! The US is in fact a corporatist country. Ordinary people don’t get to have much say in what the Honchos at the top do or don’t do.
But corporations that have say can take advantage of bitcoin as well eventually tilting the scales towards making it legal. It’s just a matter of politics in the end…
It’s unlikely the population will tolerate being sexually molested in order to fly. It is unlikely that the population will tolerate having their cell phone conversations and email exchanges filtered through government supercomputers. It is unlikely that the population will tolerate paramilitary raids to round up people with unpaid student loans. It is unlikely that the population will tolerate having their property confiscated and destroyed for recording police actions in a public square. It is unlikely that the population will tolerate having a Treasury secretary who is a proven tax cheat. It is unlikely the population will tolerate….
You’re right, asdf, we have a pretty low threshold for tolerating government mismanagement.
You’re right, too, maestro. The USA is not a communist country. It’s a fascist one. And we’re living in a police state.
“The government is controlled by the people.” Ha!! That’s a good one.
JA
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Remember, we have a voluntary income tax system; that means you are legally required to volunteer all your financial information. Expect to have to file something like TD F 90-22.1B “REPORT OF DIGITAL BANK AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS” for all your BitCoins each year.
No, they can’t catch you easily, but if they ever find you willfully hid your assets, it’s fines and possible criminal penalties, ie: prison.
And even though that’s not a real form, yet, the existing rules about capital gains, losses, and use taxes were good enough to imprison Al Capone. Don’t forget that Form 1099B *IS* a real form, “Proceeds From Broker and Barter Exchange Transactions”.
By the way, The TD F 90-22.1 “REPORT OF FOREIGN BANK AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS” is a real form that must be filed every summer, and the penalty for not filing it if you have a foreign bank account is as follows:
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A person who is required to file an FBAR and fails to properly file may be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000. If there is reasonable cause for the failure and the balance in the account is properly reported, no penalty will be imposed. A person who willfully fails to report an account or account identifying information may be subject to a civil monetary penalty equal to the greater of $100,000 or 50 percent of the balance in the account at the time of the violation. See 31 U.S.C. section 5321(a)(5). Willful violations may also be subject to criminal penalties under 31 U.S.C. section 5322(a), 31 U.S.C. section 5322(b), or 18 U.S.C. section 1001.
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As a society I think we have reach a point of no return the “revolution is here now and everywhere, simply in different form. In the end whatever the goons do will be irrelevant. if they keep acting the only way they know Fear Fraud and Force then their demise will simply be accelerated because people aren’t taking it anymore. Their idiocies are just getting more and more exposed. The more FFF they will apply the worst it will become for them.
On the other hand if suddenly a wave of light hits them and get enlightened change will also come. So you see it really is all in perfect order. The way they choose to live the revolution is their but the outcome is already decided. That force toward, a better world that works for everybody is simply too strong.
One “fear” I hear is oh they will shut down the internet…really, so what!. What do you think the outcome will be. total chaos, revolt. you think the UK riots were big, wait till you see the ones that would result from such a moronic decision. they probably have enough brain left to understand that they simply cannot do that. Still less risky to let people vent online than in the streets.