You mentioned the great majority of Trump coin was bought by whales, I’m a bit surprised you didn’t mention the biggest whale.
Justin Sun, a Chinese businessman, invested $75 million into the coin. Why is this relevant? The SEC was pursuing a civil fraud case against him… which they just put on hold seemingly out of nowhere.
This level of brazen corruption is shocking, even for Donald Trump.
New Yorkers aren't shocked in the least. We've been watching him do precisely this sort of thing for decades. And he is, along with his underboss Skunk Musk, just getting started. The two of them are eyeballing trillions.
The Scammer in Chief was able - with large amounts of money from Melon Musk and Propaganda from Faux Snooze - to get back into the WH. For someone who is nothing but a low-IQ New York mob boss, this is the mother load. And we, the taxpayers and citizens will be left holding the bag amid the rubble of our once great republic.
Yep the ultimate useful idiot to be replaced by mega ( including maga) useful idiots ie. pop. of USA. I believe he will be surplus to requirements by about 2 months b4 the midterms die and be replaced by JD who will be frontboy for the demise of Democracy and see Thiel or some punk cyber type crowned as the equivalent of longshanks the medi-evil absolute monarch of England.
When this administration crashes the economy with all the cuts and unsound removal of regulations, will the billionaire elites be able to buy back real assets at the reduced market value with phony cryptocurrency?
Sorry to jump in here at the top, but this needs to be passed onto all of our Congress Critters. I just sent it to my 3 - all Democrats, but the rethuglicans need to see it as well - even if only to force them to share the blame if it is allowed to happen. Also we need to get some independent witnesses into Ft. Knox to be able to say the gold reserves are there, because tRump+Musk are going to declare them missing - and soon they will be.
The plot of Moonraker (book): 1) UK can't afford a rocket program; 2) outsources to rich guy Hugo Drax; 3) Drax turns out to be a Nazi; 4) Drax aims rocket at London; 5) James Bond saves the day
The plot of Goldfinger (book): 1) SMERSH treasurer Auric Goldfinger is smuggling gold out of the UK; 2) Bond discovers Goldfinger plans to rob Ft. Knox; 3) Bond saves the day
tRump and his larcenous family no longer think in terms of *millions* in ill-gotten gains, but rather upped the window of opportunity by three orders of magnitude to *billions*, and many times over. Sky's the limit for these goniffs, and nothing or nobody will stop the looting and criming.
To clarify this point, it wasn't the $TRUMP memecoin that Justin Sun acquired (though he may have acquired some without it yet being disclosed).
He acquired $75 million of $WLFI, the cryptocurrency of "World Liberty Financial", another crypto venture the Trump family is involved with. Trump and his family netted >$56 million from Sun's purchase. Here are the specifics:
1. The Trump family, allegedly including Donald Trump, owns DT Marks DeFi LLC, which owns 60% of WLF Holdco LLC.
2. WLF Holdco LLC owns 100% of World Liberty Financial, Inc. ("WLF"; so the Trump family owns 60% of WLF). Eric Trump is on the WLF Holdco LLC board.
3. This means the Trump family receives 60% of WLF's "protocol revenues", which are akin to trading fees, and has direct control over WLF.
4. The Trump family also receives at least 75% of WLF's token ("$WLFI") sale revenues after operating costs (which are near-zero).
5. Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East and long-time golf & business partner, Steve Witkoff, is also involved in WLF. His stake is likely a significant amount of the remaining 40% equity and 25% of token sale revenues.
Saying that the orange criminal was "hacked into" implies innocence or at least disengagement from the scheme. That is unimaginable. He is a lifelong con artist, fraud, thief, and deeply dishonest and greedy person. Always has been and always will be.
Of course he knows it's a pump-and-dump caper. While he certainly has other people pushing the buttons and pulling the levers for him, he stands at the center of the scam, even if only as the biggest pot into which the ill-gotten gains will fall. The ugliest personification of greed, hubris, and cruelty ever is a master at manipulating the greater fools out there and exploiting their greed and hubris.
The crypto scam will be the biggest heist in history -- until the next one, which, if Congress doesn't get off its fat ass very soon, won't be long in arriving. The heist will be of the entire United States economy and government, which the orange criminal is deliberately trying to drive into the ground so that it can then be sold for parts to the eager oligarchs. That will make the orange criminal hugely rich(er), set the oligarchs up to run monopolies and cartels free of any constraints or taxes indefinitely, get Putin (somewhat) off the orange criminal's back, and give cover for the fanatical christo-fascists to impose their medieval theocracy on society.
My estimate is that the economy will be a pile of smouldering wreckage by Labor Day and the scheme will proceed from there.
Please do keep writing about this. It is definitely underreported, and with this malignant clown show in charge, the consequences are likely to be dire. I would appreciate, too, learning any further thoughts you have on why this might be, given that it’s a total scam: “It’s true that cryptocurrencies have proved to be remarkably durable even though their only serious uses seem to be in enabling criminal activity.”
IMHO. Crypto is a reflection of the prevalent psych of a large chunk of the world's population. (To be fair, it is not just in the US). Most of the crypto enthusiasts are Libertarians (I prefer to call them anarchists). This is why they push for deregulation, de-banking and DeFI. There is a deep mistrust of the established institutions and the government. Is it Reagan who said that Government is the problem? Or is it Ayn Rand who said selfishness is a virtue? In theory, education should help but, at least in the US, many red states are trying to dismantle the education system. In addition, according to Yahoo Finance in 2023, "while high school dropout rates are decreasing, the United States experiences a daunting 32.9% college dropout rate every year. With only 62.3% of students graduating after four years without delay, ... ". Look at the Muskrats. How many of them has finished college/university? The ignorance is astounding. I am old school. So I do not think that is healthy. I do not know how this all will end and how this can be fixed. I just keep hoping for the best.
An additional thought ... it's a "get rich quick" mentality which is not new, but the means are new and especially easy to chase by a constantly online populace.
If theyhave such deep distrust of government, why are they so keen to convert their crypto into dollars? That alone gives the whole thing away as a ripoff.
Crypto is not suitable for day to day transactions like buying a cup of coffee or buying grocery because currently the verification process takes about 10 min. It is an inherent technical limitation of Merkle tree which is the data structure used by crypto's distributed ledger. It will get worse when the size of blockchain increases. This is why you have to convert it to some fiat currency for daily use. However, some of the crypto applications (staking - similar to a saving account, loans, intra-banking, buying or selling collector items) do not require fast response. They are actually being used, unfortunately, in a unregulated environment.
PS. I do not own any crypto and I am not trying to promote crypto.
Verkle trees are faster and more efficient than Merkle trees. You're thinking BTC is not suitable for day to day transactions - true - but there are better coins that will be and are being established todo just that. You need to consider how AI agents will interact to transfer payments between each other. That's where the future of this technology lies. I own a lot of crypto.
I left another comment, but you might miss it so I am re-asking my question – Is there any book you recommend to better understand the value in crypto? Why not just hold dollars?
The industry has evolved so far that it is hard to keep track of all the changes in the ecosystem. In March 2024, there are 13217 coins. That is how crazy it is. There are a lot of books on Bitcoins and Ethereum. Most cryptocurrencies (if not all) are derivatives of the two. Most of them are technical in nature. I am a technology nerd and so these books and the source codes are where my focus is. Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas M. Antonopoulos is quite good on bitcoins. Mastering Ethereum by Andreas Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood (a co-founder of Ethereum) is a good one on Ethereum (which uses Verkle Tree). Each crypto-coin will publish a white paper on the technology and vision of the coin. 'The Book of Satoshi' by Phil Champagne is a collection of paper by Nakamoto Satoshi. That is where you will find the underlying philosophy of cryptocurrency. But I do not think these are what you are looking for. ‘Blockchain Revolution’ by Don and Alex Tapscott seems to be what you are looking for. I have not read it myself. But you can start from there.
In general, there is a mistrust of the governments and institutions, in this case, the Central Banks and banks. The belief is that Central Banks print money recklessly and thus devalue the currency. And some are simply believer of laissez-faire capitalism.
With respect, education (or the lack thereof) isn't the larger problem, though it is a factor. The real determiner of whether people will make good choices is: Are they psychologically healthy? Can they tolerate verifiable reality, with all of its pain and challenges? Or do they seek refuge in denial, projection, and myriad other defense mechanisms?
The emotions that make our lives so rich also make us very vulnerable to neurosis, and you need only look at human history -- as well as the current global political landscape -- to see that a lot of very bright, highly educated people nonetheless behave in ways that harm themselves, others, and their nation.
Until we accept that, we can't hope to fix the problem. And this problem is so complex that we're unlikely to fix it, given that the pressures of AI, the climate crisis, and a massive wealth gap are now making our heads spin and giving us zero time to do anything other than try to figure out how to survive. Look at what elno has been able to do to this country in just a few weeks; what are he and Thiel going to do to Earth?
This is Nature thinning the herd -- getting rid of a crucial number of humans, who have fouled the Earth and destroyed other life forms. It's heartbreaking that so many people -- many decent, many innocent -- will suffer because a few monsters have accumulated so much wealth and power, but that's what will happen.
Human are the most destructive species ever -- Nature's biggest mistake.
I was just listening to an old Economist podcast - a discussion of crypto from the end of 2023 and they mention how crypto enthusiasts tend to be one issue voters… To me that is fascinating that they would put this lack of regulation and their crypto ownings ahead of everything else that a government to me should be in charge of. They also discussed how crypto, or was it the Blockchain platform, really does help with international money transfers and transfers in general, making them much simpler and less costly and faster. Theoretically, that would be a value both to travelers as well as to international companies. I would love to learn more about this. Would anyone have any recommendations for reading? generally I believe in Mr.Krugman‘s conclusions but there is this issue with the durability of crypto.
If you are talking about cryptocurrency, I do not see a way to stop it. It is traded world wide, 24X7, using the Internet. How do you regulate the world especially our rule based world is under threat? China banned the crypto but it does not stop it from flourishing. Canada and New York made it hard to trade crypto illegally by heavily regulating the exchanges. Because of the regulations, Binance just closed the Canada and New York operations. But other exchanges came and opened shop. Binance is now working to comply to the New York regulations. As MidwesternRosarian pointed out. "get rich quick" will drive the whole crypto market. I only hope that there will be regulation on ICO or its alternatives, the DeFI and de-banking to minimize fraud. But I do not know how effective that can be since it is still in its infancy. People will figure out how to get around regulations.
There were many crypto market crashes before, with the latest one in 2021-2022, and the beginning of 2024. It just recovered over and over.
Actually many events described in the Web 3.0 links were quite well known. The State of Saxony in Germany sold 50000 bitcoin seized and caused one of the big sell off of bitcoin in the market in 2024. But look at where the Bitcoin price is now. Theft of crypto are common. Experienced crypto traders do not usually left the crypto with an exchange. There are secure wallet that you can store the downloaded crypto and completely removed it from the Internet. There are many methods now to secure the crypto. Maybe some day I can write something about DeFI and de-banking which are actually done by Chinese, at least for decades. Of course it is using fiat currency. It served them quite well.
PS. I myself do not own any crypto and I am not promoting crypto either.
Can't read about Trump anymore. With the acquiescence of the Congress and the Courts, and almost all Americans - are even 1% of you protesting? - it is now evolved into full-scale, in-your-face looting. It should come as a surprise to no one with eyes to see. The only recourse now is military intervention or full-scale rebellion. The time is now, while you still have the semblance of an economy and civil structure. Without that, Trump reads assent.
We just had a joint protest on Tuesday, March 4. Here in NYC, we did it right in front of Faux News headquarters.
The problem is that the protests are barely covered by lamestream media. While I was there, I noticed a video camera with the AP logo on it. I had to search AP's website to find the article. Surprise: It wasn't on the homepage.
I also wouldn't portray either the courts or congress as fully acquiescing. There are quite a few Senator's, Representative's and federal judges who are in fact fight tooth and nail. Again, no lamestream coverage.
I just watched a Ted Talk on a study about change and non violent protest. We need 3.3% of the population to actively protest to bring about regime change!
I think you're right. Even some Trump supporters are getting worried. There was a long article in our local paper about our representative going to a town hall meeting in a safe place and facing jeers and hard questions.
It speaks of moving grass when the GOP tells there members to stay away from their constituents.
I listened to my Democratic Senator give a scholarly response to Trumps speech. Calm, correct and academic. Not right for the moment. I commented and said we need help organizing a resistance. 2 years is too long to wait. We'll be toasted to a crisp and ground into crumbs.
Passive resistance is the key. No violence. Violence will give them a reason for overwhelming force and we'll lose.
The vast majority of Americans by nature politically are lazy and complacent. A true tipping point will be if the social security checks stop, which the previous administrator says is quite possible in April due to incompetent firings. If the loss of those checks doesn't cause nationwide protests, nothing will. I still remember 2020 when the populace rightly protested cops murderous impunity, so its definitely possible. The government reaction will absolutely make it worse, and that's when the shit will hit the fan.
From observation, even huge gangs of older people peacefuly protesting don't get attention. When the ConDems started turning the austerity screws, 500K people from all over the UK protested in the streets of London. Who got coverage? The 30 or so people who invaded Fortnum and Mason and helped themselves to the food.
Yup, same thing as during the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protests during 2020. The main coverage was the odd burning down of stores by people who selectively used statistics when it comes to things like gun violence but not when it comes to mostly peaceful protests (Time evidence based article says 93% of the protests were peaceful). Then those right wing crazies started equating their failed January 6th insurrection to people protesting to not get murdered by cops when going about their daily business.
Also in the ruby red state of Idaho at the steps of the state Capitol. Feels futile but it's better than inaction. We're not alone but there is befuddlement about how to coalesce into something that resembles a productive movement. Trump, etal are moving faster than we can respond to. But (and I'm a 70-year old former republican) we must act.
That's actually pretty awesome. If even Idaho can have a resistance movement, it'll grow. Don't give up! It's not futile! Keep organizing and resisting!
1% would be about 3 million. Haven't seen anything approaching 10000, but you might be right; it's not being covered. But wouldn't Bluesky or substacks mention protests of 100k?
It's just starting. Give it time. It's growing. I found out about it through substack, so don't discount it or Bluesky just yet. Just keep your eyes pealed for it.
Hello Winston. With the world falling apart, we are running out of time. Even this Krugman article is all about urgency! Yes, I know all the courts, for example, aren't in for Trump, but the trajectory is to more compliance, not less; every day there is erosion of public service and institutions, at a rate so fast that in a couple of weeks, there will be nothing functioning. And when the first US soldier crosses our border, we'll be at war; even that will be a line in the sand that Americans will step over. With apologies to Trump (not): 'Grab them by the pusillanimous. When you are a star, they let you do anything.'
Ah, I didn't realize you're in Canada. There's no way in hell we'll allow Trumpkopf to attack Canada - or any of our allies. That would instantly break the camels back and trigger a civil war.
Who controls the big guns? Right now it's very scary people. I wish I could be so reassuring, but I can't.
I do think there would be widespread resistance at this point. A lot of folks who spent 60 years hearing that Russia is the enemy are now dismayed to find that Putin is a wonderful guy.
I believe there would be a lot of resistance to attacking Canada. I don't think that will be tried soon. First will come economic warfare.
We may implode before we prove to be a military threat.
Rachel Maddow is the only news person showing video of these individual protests happening all over the US. When taken together, there very well could be 10K people.
Not true re "only Maddow". I'm seeing video of individual protests on many of the MSNBC programs. Of course, that's MSNBC not corporate media. But I have seen some reporting on a couple of our local corporate broadcast news programs. We can't assume that just because we haven't seen it, it isn't happening. And the protests are occurring with increasing frequency even in small towns all over the country. I learn about them by reading and watching a very wide range of information sources.
Please page down here to KMD's comment about protests in every county in Maine, for one example.
How many people were there? We had around 100 people in a GOP area protesting on Tuesday and I saw nothing about it. It wasn't 1% but considering the location it was impressive.
I don't have a knack for guessing crowd sizes, but I'd say we had somewhere between 2000 - 5000 in front of Faux Headquarters. It was a decent size crowd. I would have preferred 100,000, but considering this is only week 4, it's not half bad.
Naturally, the lamestream media played it down. I saw a video camera there with the AP logo on it, and when I browsed to AP's website, it wasn't on the homepage, but they did cover it, I just had to search for the article.
Yes we are! Last Saturday, on a cold, windy & drizzly day, there were protests in all 16 counties of Maine! Friends & I attended the Hancock County protest in front of the Ellsworth City Hall, our county seat, which was attended by over 300 people. Similar protests were held in the Hancock county towns of Bar Harbor & Bucksport.
There were good speakers, terrific homemade signs, music, and very good vibes.
I'm sure there will be many more of these events. Today I counted 16 Letters to the Editor in our weekly newspaper, the Ellsworth American, from people objecting to Trump's actions - probably a record. We are not surrendering in advance!
Crypto is now and has always been nothing more than a pyramid scheme. The scammer tells you you can buy a handful of nothing (I'm old enough to remember you had to buy equipment to "mine' it yourself), tells other people the same, sucker's start buying, small payouts are made by robbing Peter to pay Paul all while Peter and Paul convince their family members to buy too, then Peter gets a small payout from Paul's granny's money and on it goes until the day everyone tries to cash out ay once or the scammer just runs off with all the actual cash.
This is where Musk talks it up about social security veing a corrupt ponzi scheme, while an actual ponzi scheme gets executed by Trump and gis cronies.
A form of innoculation - if we accuse others first, it seems less credible when they accuse us. Russiagate (russia, russia, russia), weaponize the FBI, the fake news, the enemy within, etc.
I'M old enough to remember when the 'equipment needed to mine it yourself' was...your computer. A friend even mined a few Bitcoin at the beginning; I think he cashed them in for a few bucks at some point soon after.
And now people are building entire rooms off their garage and adding a second air conditioning unit to keep it cool, but still after all that have to give actual money to someone else to get the "currency". My facepalm is facepalming it's so absurd.
Matt Gaetz's buddy burned down a gov't-owned building setting up a Crypto mining set-up. He's such an idiot he didn't know you had to have a cooling system.
"Greenberg also navigated a political quagmire after the Orlando Sentinel reported he had inappropriately funneled $3.5 million of taxpayer dollars to his friends, including three men who were in his wedding party.
An independent audit conducted for the county also found he had used public funds to buy body armor, weapons, ammunition and a drone. He also purchased a $90,000 server room to benefit a cryptocurrency company he created. Those servers overloaded a circuit breaker inside a county building, sparking a fire that caused $6,700 in damages that weren’t covered by insurance, the audit said."
I think most people miss (do not see) one of the layers of Trump's actions: creating the exciting/mesmerizing events.
Here, all the crime/bribe/graft opportunities of "national crypto reserve" are undeniable, but for Trump the drama ITSELF, both during the hype period, AND during the inevitable crash period, is of great value.
Trump's voters vote not so much for policies/results, but for the SPECTACLE. And Trump delivers. As he has the skill to convince voters that the spectacle is mostly about them being better off (facts be damned), his actions are RATIONAL. Do not miss this.
It's debatable whether or not we can label the actions of a psychopath "rational", however the spectacle is the curtain, as in "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain". You can also think of it as a smokescreen to nask the theft.
I genuinely wonder whether Trump is not seeing himself like a pro-wrestling saga (along multiple arena events, over time) script writer and producer. For a pro-wrestling producer the most important thing is that people buy the tickets. Income from concession stands sure figures in the spreadsheet, but is not the central point.
So I think that the drama/performance could be central to Trump. OF COURSE the reason he is turning the whole USA into a WWE type entertainment business IS money, but there is more to it. Like movie business - yes, money is a part of it, but you need to have some feel and love for the poetry of the silver screen to be a good producer.
This fits into the narrative of the psychopath. Psychopaths >really< love attention. Not all narcissists are psychopaths, but all psychopaths are narcissists.
Are we forgetting that Trump is showing clear signs of dementia? I suspect shadowy grifters behind the scenes (and ketamine-fueled grifters in front of the curtain). Trump’s ability to mastermind or even implement such a scheme is diminishing. All he knows is that there are billions and billions of dollars to be made if he reads the teleprompter and Sharpie-signs the right orders. He’s still capable of doing that. So far.
This is complex. For example professional aviators are in a race between gradually decreasing cognitive abilities (mainly a slowdown) and continuously being accumulated experience, since the age 55-60. And some can keep up, net, into a quite advanced age. So I am cautious with "Trump is senile". Eventually, yes. Soon? Probably. Now? I am not sure.
Also, intelligence/cognition is multidimensional. I am inclined to think that Trump's intelligence is distributed a bit abnormally between observable dimensions. Maybe what we see as "senility" was his norm, give or take, and he always compensated by being sharp indeed in things not that easily demonstrated in casual observation.
Quite a few psychiatrists and psychologists, including his niece, psychologist Mary Trump, have come to this conclusion. He has three first-degree relatives who had Alzheimer’s. His language deterioration stands out for me as being different than just the signs of stress overload.
To be clear, I think it is something much worse than "voting for the entertainment value". I believe that US politics became a "rating game" - voters choose the show offered by Trump over boring talks about policies and their REAL consequences presented by competing politicians. Then, voters act as if that show WAS the reality.
It is not "voting for the kicks of it, for the most funny performer". These voters want to believe that what they watch with most interest, does correspond to the reality. And vote according to this belief.
In a sense it is very similar to people watching "Fox news" and totally not watching CNN or other program actually reporting the news.
I think I get what you mean--you mean they don't have a clear sense of reality.
They think whatever they decide IS reality? And they wish to ignore aspects of reality they dislike?
That they can make reality happen the way they want if they choose Trump? (I suppose that's true...)
I think many rightwing voters do believe that their feelings matter much more than anything else, and they are willing to ignore many aspects of reality. The way they think, is very different! For one thing, if some aspect of reality upsets them or affects how they feel about themselves, they want to erase it. They believe they have the right to erase it. If something about Black people upsets them, like the history of injustice towards them, they believe they should just be able to take that book out of school. Emotionally, they are often entitled. So they don't care if it is TRUE just that it makes them feel bad.
And they really want to feel GOOD so it's easy to manipulate them and flatter them and lie to them and they get very very very angry if you mess with their image of themselves or what they want to be true. It's very similar to Trump with Zelinskyy --Zelinskyy didn't mean to insult him, he simply treated him as an equal, which is actually much more respectful than the way other people treat Trump, which is as someone who is a giant baby who needs to be flattered, but Trump only got angry when someone treated him as an equal, not from someone slavishly bowing to him, and lying to him.
All you wrote is true, I think. You pointed to specific quite real phenomena. Part of the wider story unraveling too-damn-fast, the story which I do not understand wholly myself.
I have to continuously restrain myself from proclaiming "Here! I understand this all!" every morning. Mainly because I remember this "understanding of the day" is different a bit from my "totally comprehensive understanding" of the previous morning.
There is this notion of a "paradigm", which I believe (I am too narrowly a STEM to have a deeper education in social sciences) was (the word/notion) invented to describe the way the whole society thinks/perceives the reality around it, the way which is inevitably intertwined (resulting from knowledge, and defining/restricting this knowledge) with what the society knows about the reality. The classic example of the use of this notion is the pre-Copernican vs Enlightenment society. These were living different paradigms. It is not only that the knowledge was different - the QUESTIONS people deemed important were different etc.
One of SF authors illustrated the problem of "different paradigms" in a situation when a scholastic (meaning top-notch medieval academic) asks a modern scholar "OK, so now that the knowledge advance so much, which prime element turned out to be the most fundamental - the earth or the air?". How do you continue such a hypothetical dialogue?
The disorientation we experience now seems to be that described by social scientists as "what happens when the whole paradigm changes", the above mentioned "Copernican revolution" being their example. It is not only that "things are happening", but the way our cognition, as something shared and communicated in the society - changes. I still do not really get it.
That is what I believe is happening in both the moral and political sense—but unlike with science (it is from Kuhn ‘Structure of Scientific Revolutions’) it is not so much that the shift is explaining an anomaly in the data, as it was when we switched from Newtonian to Einsteinium physics but more that there have been different paradigms the whole time. One was ascendant—which was universalistic, liberal, enlightenment morality—ideas that rose in the enlightenment.
The other is fascism, sort of a free-floating reaction to enlightenment, humanistic value system —this system posits a ‘natural hierarchy’ (unjustified because the traits which they consider to be ‘superior’ traits are only superior within this social and economic system (e.g., certain tech skills, coding, etc.) It is inegalitarian, does not want power to be sorted out through negotiation, but rather proposes to rule through violence and coercion, demands obedience, rejects reason (so involves the rejection of science)—and of course the hierarchy involves misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, etc. It attracts people who have a dominance orientation rather than a cooperative orientation.
Morally speaking, fascism involves an an attack on the humanist value system. It finds rationality threatening, partly because rationality can debunk the idea of natural hierarchies, and also points people toward things like valuing the lives of others, impartiality, science in the public interest, the restraint of power, etc.
It’s extremely confusing because most of the people who react negatively to it are within a different moral paradigm and dealing with or negotiating with people who don’t share your paradigm is difficult—but especially in this case because there is no overlap given that it’s a reaction to your value system (if it is humanistic). There’s no overlap by design. They want to kill our value system, and stamp it out forever. They are very parasitic on other people’s morality and the voluntary cooperation of other people —so this is a way those people can be confusing—they will use moral concepts and then yank them away. They will say ‘you’re being unfair’ when they don’t believe in fairness. Then they will use other people’s fairness to gain some ground and reverse their position immediately after they have made these gains. So it is highly contradictory. They operate much like the mafia—what bands them together is they all want the same morally bad things.
A lot of people have seen the rise of fascism to be caused by the failure of capitalism…and in a way that doesn’t make sense here. Capitalism hadn’t failed. In another way, it is a bit of a surprise because they are destroying capitalism as it previously operated and creating some kind of gangster situation.
So that is involving huge political shifts like the destruction of democracy and the constitution and the alliance between the US and authoritarian governments, as opposed to democracy. Also, it is parasitic on liberal democracy. It doesn’t have a driving ideology in the typical sense—just one born from reaction. So it simply means ‘worship the ruler, who is above the law.’ As you see, people can be fanatically identified with that, but it’s hard for it to last over time because the rulers suck and people come to see that.
Eventually, it collapses from the weight of its corruption but it can take decades. So I hope people figure out how to limit it soon.
Thank you for your reply. Some things you wrote explain - at least to me - what we observe "these days". Maybe "explain" is a wrong word - you put a structure and useful names on raw observations. Which is somehow useful etc. As you see, I am badly deficient in "theory of cognition", I do not even know the correct name of such field, if there is any. I trained to do theoretical physics stuff, seemed important in ancient times.
BTW, I think we live in the times when social sciences, anthropology and such got weaponized and their applications determine winners and losers in the global contests. Just like engineering was suddenly important militarily in 19th century, and advanced physics in the 20th.
That might be the case - unless he agrees to prostrate himself "properly" in accordance with Trumpkopf's definition of "properly". Not to mention agreeing to "properly" schmear His Orange MAGA Majesty.
Let's not forget the $100 million Trump made, in just 2 weeks, on transaction fees for $Trump. Easy money and he profits, regardless of where it goes for investors.
Trump has created many ways to launder bribes. The first used his “properties” to take fees for hotel rooms and events. Then came all the utterly ridiculous merch—$300 spray-painted sneakers, signed bibles, $100,000 watches bought from an NY street vendor. NFTs digitized his scam. Then Truth Social (for which he bought a SPAC to skirt financial regulation) enabled his grift through financial markets, and now, he’s got full on, crypto-enabled bribe schemes with no limits on the bribes that can be paid. The man is a walking con job. I’m completely at a loss for how we stop the corruption, of which laundered bribes are only a small part. The guy should be swinging from a lamppost in front of a gas station.
Also buying and selling properties at above and below market value is a great way to hide payments being made to you, or payments being made to others. There seems to be some evidence for that happening, as well.
Don't believe it. Those $ can be stolen even easier. When the inevitable crash happens, what's going to be sacrificed, the $ you earn? Or the stocks billionaires hold?
If it's converted to 100 year bonds, those will be the first instruments raided for crypto that can't be cashed in for a century. I've thought they're just salivating to take Warren Buffett for a ride, as he's a rich person advocating that other oligarchs need to pay their taxes like he does so that the squeezed citizenry on both ends can have some breathing room--or to continue the 2/3 consumer spending that props up his low-to-no competition companies purchased during "market corrections".
Cryptocurrency, in any form, is not an investment, it’s a speculative gamble. It produces nothing, has no intrinsic value, and relies solely on the hope that someone else will buy it for a higher price. The idea that the U.S. government should create a "Crypto Strategic Reserve" is reckless and absurd. Why would we back a reserve with digital tokens that are subject to wild price swings and manipulation? The real way to strengthen America’s economy is through productive assets, not digital snake oil.
"The real way to strengthen America’s economy is through productive assets". Where does that fit in a world rapidly moving to a digital AI economy? Facebook is worth billions yet what is its "productive assett" other than as a large speakers corner for grabbing attention? I notice you're writing here on Substack - a company valued at $650m. Where does it's value really lie? What does value even mean?
Please remember we are talking about truly worthless digital “coins” here. Yes, there is a valuable digital economy that provides real services (like Substack), though I would not yet include the “hype of AI” as valuable. And, none of what you said directly relates to meme coins. Your point also applies to every overvalued stock now being traded.
He never will. Buffett invests in the real economy, in companies that generate ongoing economic value. He might invest in Coinbase, but never DogeCoin.
He’s already done it with the traditional stock market. Every time the tariffs are on, the indices plummet 2%. Then a last minute reprieve. Market climbs again, until everyone who shorted the market cashes in their options and futures. Repeat.
Keep an eye on whose portfolios are swelling the fattest, and how much they paid the inauguration party slush fund.
As uncertainty about trade policies and general political unrest start to sink in, I suspect the markets will reflect the growing unease of the general public.
Most people don't know what is happening but they're smelling the smoke in the distance and are getting wary. You aren't going to invest in the future if you think an out of control fire is coming your way.
As if living under our own version of a Putin would not be bad enough, and it would be miserable, he is also out to destroy our whole economy, as well, with these schemes and does not care at all.
It is all pay to play.
If you want to be spared, buy some protection, mafia style.
You would think him cutting 70,000 jobs from the Department of Veteran's affairs would move some (a few) of the GOP in congress ready to to flip to independent and caucus with the Dems to stop all of this, by flipping power in congress.
We only need a few brave souls in the House and Senate to stand up and do this so that congress can once again act as a separate branch of government.
They have nothing to lose, since as a swing vote, they would have a lot of power, but at least they could help stop the madness.
If Jefferies and Schumer are not approaching them with massive "pot sweeteners" to get them do this, I will be really pissed off !!!
We are in a massive crisis - this is no time for ideological purity or party identity issues.
We may have no country (or Phoenix left to rise form the ashes) if they think the GOP crashing and burning will help them win future elections - there may never be another real election at all and millions will suffer from what Trump may do.
They need to find a way to get a few from the other side on board or band together and create some sort of opposition coalition.
I think the legislators on both sides look outside and the sun is still shining. They want to believe that the sky isn't falling. The ship will right itself in short order. That's the message I'm getting from a lot of Democratic legislators. The ex-Presidents are silent.
I want to believe normalcy will return and in the long run it may.
I'm scared for the future especially for my six kids. One of my sons asked if I thought it would be a good time to have kids, before I've always said yes because I'm an optimist, but this time I said no. Not in the US.
I have not heard any Dem claim this is not an emergency.
The problem is that the GOP have 100% full control of congress so the Dems can't even get a bill to the floor or get anything going in the House or Senate.
They can't help other than ask us to organize and especially those who live in GOP run districts.
Thus, for now we are hoping the courts will come to the rescue, but they move more slowly than we want.
The GOP in congress are letting Trump break the law when he fires people and withholds spending. It is illegal.
Thus, the few good GOPers left, and they tend to also tow the line need to be approached because even they are seeing the damage it will do to their own districts and states.
James Carville advised Democrats to play dead until the ogre immolates himself and his Government. I'm not sure that is the best strategy. The collateral damage might be too real. An entire continent was in ashes before Hitler was done with.
Great point. It may be our last chance to stop irreversible damage. I don’t want to think about options for stopping this madness beyond the legal and constitutional.
The republican suits lined up fElon to remind him that he can make suggestions, but it is THEY who have the power of the purse & he's NOT replacing their gravy train reason for existence.
A strategic crypto reserve is like a strategic rock reserve. The government digs up a pile of rocks and stacks them somewhere. Precisely what good would this do? Buyers of risk assets disappear in a crisis. A few electrons won’t buy food, a missile or a gun when everything goes south. All this serves to do is transfer tax receipts to a handful of crypto bros. History will not look kindly on it.
"A few electrons won’t buy food, a missile or a gun when everything goes south" - but electrons in AI will be generating smarter ways to cultivate food, design missiles and activate robot troops to prevent real people shooting each other. Do you think we'll be living in a less digital world in the future or a more digital world?
So then what do you think the link will be between AI and digital coins? Othe than, say an AI built world where people buy things, like many role playing games . Just because AI might aid in crops or robot making there still need to be people to plant and harvest the crops and someone to put together the robots. Crypto is hot air funny money. It's not going to get anyone anything of real value.
What’s funnier than fiat money where the government just prints more of it so the value decreases ? This system just creates exponential growth in supply and therefore exponential decline in value. Bitcoin however will only ever have 21million coins in existence. Ever. The whole economic system has 5 years to figure it out. By 2030 the world will be unidentifiable to how it is today. You think we need people to plant and harvest crops ? You haven’t seen the robots that build cars and autonomous tractors ? Take a look at the work China are doing in the humanoid robot sphere.crypto just connects those AI dots.
You mentioned the great majority of Trump coin was bought by whales, I’m a bit surprised you didn’t mention the biggest whale.
Justin Sun, a Chinese businessman, invested $75 million into the coin. Why is this relevant? The SEC was pursuing a civil fraud case against him… which they just put on hold seemingly out of nowhere.
This level of brazen corruption is shocking, even for Donald Trump.
New Yorkers aren't shocked in the least. We've been watching him do precisely this sort of thing for decades. And he is, along with his underboss Skunk Musk, just getting started. The two of them are eyeballing trillions.
The Scammer in Chief was able - with large amounts of money from Melon Musk and Propaganda from Faux Snooze - to get back into the WH. For someone who is nothing but a low-IQ New York mob boss, this is the mother load. And we, the taxpayers and citizens will be left holding the bag amid the rubble of our once great republic.
Yep the ultimate useful idiot to be replaced by mega ( including maga) useful idiots ie. pop. of USA. I believe he will be surplus to requirements by about 2 months b4 the midterms die and be replaced by JD who will be frontboy for the demise of Democracy and see Thiel or some punk cyber type crowned as the equivalent of longshanks the medi-evil absolute monarch of England.
When this administration crashes the economy with all the cuts and unsound removal of regulations, will the billionaire elites be able to buy back real assets at the reduced market value with phony cryptocurrency?
Nah, they'll just steal it. Purloin, Plunder and Pillage is what they're all about.
Sorry to jump in here at the top, but this needs to be passed onto all of our Congress Critters. I just sent it to my 3 - all Democrats, but the rethuglicans need to see it as well - even if only to force them to share the blame if it is allowed to happen. Also we need to get some independent witnesses into Ft. Knox to be able to say the gold reserves are there, because tRump+Musk are going to declare them missing - and soon they will be.
Our scriptwriters are getting lazy.
The plot of Moonraker (book): 1) UK can't afford a rocket program; 2) outsources to rich guy Hugo Drax; 3) Drax turns out to be a Nazi; 4) Drax aims rocket at London; 5) James Bond saves the day
The plot of Goldfinger (book): 1) SMERSH treasurer Auric Goldfinger is smuggling gold out of the UK; 2) Bond discovers Goldfinger plans to rob Ft. Knox; 3) Bond saves the day
Where's our James Bond?
Its Rubin, Jennifer Rubin.
I'm trying to imagine her in a convertible sports car with sunglasses and scarves flapping in the wind.
He died in the last picture- same as American democracy.
Robert Reich's latest post discusses Sun.
tRump and his larcenous family no longer think in terms of *millions* in ill-gotten gains, but rather upped the window of opportunity by three orders of magnitude to *billions*, and many times over. Sky's the limit for these goniffs, and nothing or nobody will stop the looting and criming.
To clarify this point, it wasn't the $TRUMP memecoin that Justin Sun acquired (though he may have acquired some without it yet being disclosed).
He acquired $75 million of $WLFI, the cryptocurrency of "World Liberty Financial", another crypto venture the Trump family is involved with. Trump and his family netted >$56 million from Sun's purchase. Here are the specifics:
1. The Trump family, allegedly including Donald Trump, owns DT Marks DeFi LLC, which owns 60% of WLF Holdco LLC.
2. WLF Holdco LLC owns 100% of World Liberty Financial, Inc. ("WLF"; so the Trump family owns 60% of WLF). Eric Trump is on the WLF Holdco LLC board.
3. This means the Trump family receives 60% of WLF's "protocol revenues", which are akin to trading fees, and has direct control over WLF.
4. The Trump family also receives at least 75% of WLF's token ("$WLFI") sale revenues after operating costs (which are near-zero).
5. Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East and long-time golf & business partner, Steve Witkoff, is also involved in WLF. His stake is likely a significant amount of the remaining 40% equity and 25% of token sale revenues.
And I highly recommend this NYT article about the Trump family's business partners on this... 'venture': https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/07/us/politics/donald-trump-crypto-2024-campaign.html
Thanks.
Saying that the orange criminal was "hacked into" implies innocence or at least disengagement from the scheme. That is unimaginable. He is a lifelong con artist, fraud, thief, and deeply dishonest and greedy person. Always has been and always will be.
Of course he knows it's a pump-and-dump caper. While he certainly has other people pushing the buttons and pulling the levers for him, he stands at the center of the scam, even if only as the biggest pot into which the ill-gotten gains will fall. The ugliest personification of greed, hubris, and cruelty ever is a master at manipulating the greater fools out there and exploiting their greed and hubris.
The crypto scam will be the biggest heist in history -- until the next one, which, if Congress doesn't get off its fat ass very soon, won't be long in arriving. The heist will be of the entire United States economy and government, which the orange criminal is deliberately trying to drive into the ground so that it can then be sold for parts to the eager oligarchs. That will make the orange criminal hugely rich(er), set the oligarchs up to run monopolies and cartels free of any constraints or taxes indefinitely, get Putin (somewhat) off the orange criminal's back, and give cover for the fanatical christo-fascists to impose their medieval theocracy on society.
My estimate is that the economy will be a pile of smouldering wreckage by Labor Day and the scheme will proceed from there.
Please look up "Giuilded Age" on, say, wikipedis.com. You can be unhappy, but please don't be surprised.
At least in the Gilded Age they built things like factories and railways.
Cryptocurrency is mostly a scam.
"Cryptocurrency a scam."
FTFY. It has no use beyond money laundering, scamming people, and collecting ransom (either from ransomware or actual human kidnapping)
Could it be that Justin Sun was found innocent of fraud by the SEC? And that's why they dropped the case?
It could be. I also could have some ocean front property in Topeka to sell you.
Please do keep writing about this. It is definitely underreported, and with this malignant clown show in charge, the consequences are likely to be dire. I would appreciate, too, learning any further thoughts you have on why this might be, given that it’s a total scam: “It’s true that cryptocurrencies have proved to be remarkably durable even though their only serious uses seem to be in enabling criminal activity.”
IMHO. Crypto is a reflection of the prevalent psych of a large chunk of the world's population. (To be fair, it is not just in the US). Most of the crypto enthusiasts are Libertarians (I prefer to call them anarchists). This is why they push for deregulation, de-banking and DeFI. There is a deep mistrust of the established institutions and the government. Is it Reagan who said that Government is the problem? Or is it Ayn Rand who said selfishness is a virtue? In theory, education should help but, at least in the US, many red states are trying to dismantle the education system. In addition, according to Yahoo Finance in 2023, "while high school dropout rates are decreasing, the United States experiences a daunting 32.9% college dropout rate every year. With only 62.3% of students graduating after four years without delay, ... ". Look at the Muskrats. How many of them has finished college/university? The ignorance is astounding. I am old school. So I do not think that is healthy. I do not know how this all will end and how this can be fixed. I just keep hoping for the best.
Of course, another factor is greed.
An additional thought ... it's a "get rich quick" mentality which is not new, but the means are new and especially easy to chase by a constantly online populace.
If theyhave such deep distrust of government, why are they so keen to convert their crypto into dollars? That alone gives the whole thing away as a ripoff.
Crypto is not suitable for day to day transactions like buying a cup of coffee or buying grocery because currently the verification process takes about 10 min. It is an inherent technical limitation of Merkle tree which is the data structure used by crypto's distributed ledger. It will get worse when the size of blockchain increases. This is why you have to convert it to some fiat currency for daily use. However, some of the crypto applications (staking - similar to a saving account, loans, intra-banking, buying or selling collector items) do not require fast response. They are actually being used, unfortunately, in a unregulated environment.
PS. I do not own any crypto and I am not trying to promote crypto.
Verkle trees are faster and more efficient than Merkle trees. You're thinking BTC is not suitable for day to day transactions - true - but there are better coins that will be and are being established todo just that. You need to consider how AI agents will interact to transfer payments between each other. That's where the future of this technology lies. I own a lot of crypto.
I left another comment, but you might miss it so I am re-asking my question – Is there any book you recommend to better understand the value in crypto? Why not just hold dollars?
The industry has evolved so far that it is hard to keep track of all the changes in the ecosystem. In March 2024, there are 13217 coins. That is how crazy it is. There are a lot of books on Bitcoins and Ethereum. Most cryptocurrencies (if not all) are derivatives of the two. Most of them are technical in nature. I am a technology nerd and so these books and the source codes are where my focus is. Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas M. Antonopoulos is quite good on bitcoins. Mastering Ethereum by Andreas Antonopoulos and Gavin Wood (a co-founder of Ethereum) is a good one on Ethereum (which uses Verkle Tree). Each crypto-coin will publish a white paper on the technology and vision of the coin. 'The Book of Satoshi' by Phil Champagne is a collection of paper by Nakamoto Satoshi. That is where you will find the underlying philosophy of cryptocurrency. But I do not think these are what you are looking for. ‘Blockchain Revolution’ by Don and Alex Tapscott seems to be what you are looking for. I have not read it myself. But you can start from there.
In general, there is a mistrust of the governments and institutions, in this case, the Central Banks and banks. The belief is that Central Banks print money recklessly and thus devalue the currency. And some are simply believer of laissez-faire capitalism.
With respect, education (or the lack thereof) isn't the larger problem, though it is a factor. The real determiner of whether people will make good choices is: Are they psychologically healthy? Can they tolerate verifiable reality, with all of its pain and challenges? Or do they seek refuge in denial, projection, and myriad other defense mechanisms?
The emotions that make our lives so rich also make us very vulnerable to neurosis, and you need only look at human history -- as well as the current global political landscape -- to see that a lot of very bright, highly educated people nonetheless behave in ways that harm themselves, others, and their nation.
Until we accept that, we can't hope to fix the problem. And this problem is so complex that we're unlikely to fix it, given that the pressures of AI, the climate crisis, and a massive wealth gap are now making our heads spin and giving us zero time to do anything other than try to figure out how to survive. Look at what elno has been able to do to this country in just a few weeks; what are he and Thiel going to do to Earth?
This is Nature thinning the herd -- getting rid of a crucial number of humans, who have fouled the Earth and destroyed other life forms. It's heartbreaking that so many people -- many decent, many innocent -- will suffer because a few monsters have accumulated so much wealth and power, but that's what will happen.
Human are the most destructive species ever -- Nature's biggest mistake.
I was just listening to an old Economist podcast - a discussion of crypto from the end of 2023 and they mention how crypto enthusiasts tend to be one issue voters… To me that is fascinating that they would put this lack of regulation and their crypto ownings ahead of everything else that a government to me should be in charge of. They also discussed how crypto, or was it the Blockchain platform, really does help with international money transfers and transfers in general, making them much simpler and less costly and faster. Theoretically, that would be a value both to travelers as well as to international companies. I would love to learn more about this. Would anyone have any recommendations for reading? generally I believe in Mr.Krugman‘s conclusions but there is this issue with the durability of crypto.
I’m most interested in how we can stop it.
Yes, you are right, that is the most important of all
If you are talking about cryptocurrency, I do not see a way to stop it. It is traded world wide, 24X7, using the Internet. How do you regulate the world especially our rule based world is under threat? China banned the crypto but it does not stop it from flourishing. Canada and New York made it hard to trade crypto illegally by heavily regulating the exchanges. Because of the regulations, Binance just closed the Canada and New York operations. But other exchanges came and opened shop. Binance is now working to comply to the New York regulations. As MidwesternRosarian pointed out. "get rich quick" will drive the whole crypto market. I only hope that there will be regulation on ICO or its alternatives, the DeFI and de-banking to minimize fraud. But I do not know how effective that can be since it is still in its infancy. People will figure out how to get around regulations.
There were many crypto market crashes before, with the latest one in 2021-2022, and the beginning of 2024. It just recovered over and over.
or just peruse "Web 3.0 is Going Just Great!" which is documenting the atrocities https://www.web3isgoinggreat.com/
Thank you for this link. I am trying to better understand crypto, the Blockchain, Ethereum and what is really there. I don’t get it yet. I am old …
Watch this : https://youtu.be/YtFOxNbmD38?si=Sj4fnY-nvhcaugMQ
Actually many events described in the Web 3.0 links were quite well known. The State of Saxony in Germany sold 50000 bitcoin seized and caused one of the big sell off of bitcoin in the market in 2024. But look at where the Bitcoin price is now. Theft of crypto are common. Experienced crypto traders do not usually left the crypto with an exchange. There are secure wallet that you can store the downloaded crypto and completely removed it from the Internet. There are many methods now to secure the crypto. Maybe some day I can write something about DeFI and de-banking which are actually done by Chinese, at least for decades. Of course it is using fiat currency. It served them quite well.
PS. I myself do not own any crypto and I am not promoting crypto either.
Cold wallets store your keys offline - not the actual crypto. That remains on the blockchain.
We need to educate the people about the Crypto Casino.
https://www.djtpresidentiallibrary.com/teachable-lessons-from-the-trump-crypto-university
Is it Crypto or a Cryptid?
“A cryptid is a creature that people believe exists but has not been proven to do so.”
It's both! Especially $KingMAGAcoin and $QueenMAGAcoin.
I wonder whether anyone has a $SasquatchCoin yet?
Can't read about Trump anymore. With the acquiescence of the Congress and the Courts, and almost all Americans - are even 1% of you protesting? - it is now evolved into full-scale, in-your-face looting. It should come as a surprise to no one with eyes to see. The only recourse now is military intervention or full-scale rebellion. The time is now, while you still have the semblance of an economy and civil structure. Without that, Trump reads assent.
"...are even 1% of you protesting?"
Yes, we are. Are >you< participating? Check out 50501 https://www.fiftyfifty.one/, Indivisible https://indivisible.org/, and many more.
We just had a joint protest on Tuesday, March 4. Here in NYC, we did it right in front of Faux News headquarters.
The problem is that the protests are barely covered by lamestream media. While I was there, I noticed a video camera with the AP logo on it. I had to search AP's website to find the article. Surprise: It wasn't on the homepage.
I also wouldn't portray either the courts or congress as fully acquiescing. There are quite a few Senator's, Representative's and federal judges who are in fact fight tooth and nail. Again, no lamestream coverage.
I just watched a Ted Talk on a study about change and non violent protest. We need 3.3% of the population to actively protest to bring about regime change!
It'll get there - and then some. It's growing, and the growth rate is quadratic. Just watch and see, or better yet, join in.
I think you're right. Even some Trump supporters are getting worried. There was a long article in our local paper about our representative going to a town hall meeting in a safe place and facing jeers and hard questions.
It speaks of moving grass when the GOP tells there members to stay away from their constituents.
I listened to my Democratic Senator give a scholarly response to Trumps speech. Calm, correct and academic. Not right for the moment. I commented and said we need help organizing a resistance. 2 years is too long to wait. We'll be toasted to a crisp and ground into crumbs.
Passive resistance is the key. No violence. Violence will give them a reason for overwhelming force and we'll lose.
I agree. Violence is no good - unless and until King MAGA makes good on his threat to send troops in. Then all bets are off.
The vast majority of Americans by nature politically are lazy and complacent. A true tipping point will be if the social security checks stop, which the previous administrator says is quite possible in April due to incompetent firings. If the loss of those checks doesn't cause nationwide protests, nothing will. I still remember 2020 when the populace rightly protested cops murderous impunity, so its definitely possible. The government reaction will absolutely make it worse, and that's when the shit will hit the fan.
From observation, even huge gangs of older people peacefuly protesting don't get attention. When the ConDems started turning the austerity screws, 500K people from all over the UK protested in the streets of London. Who got coverage? The 30 or so people who invaded Fortnum and Mason and helped themselves to the food.
Yup, same thing as during the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protests during 2020. The main coverage was the odd burning down of stores by people who selectively used statistics when it comes to things like gun violence but not when it comes to mostly peaceful protests (Time evidence based article says 93% of the protests were peaceful). Then those right wing crazies started equating their failed January 6th insurrection to people protesting to not get murdered by cops when going about their daily business.
Also in the ruby red state of Idaho at the steps of the state Capitol. Feels futile but it's better than inaction. We're not alone but there is befuddlement about how to coalesce into something that resembles a productive movement. Trump, etal are moving faster than we can respond to. But (and I'm a 70-year old former republican) we must act.
That's actually pretty awesome. If even Idaho can have a resistance movement, it'll grow. Don't give up! It's not futile! Keep organizing and resisting!
We >will< take our country back!
1% would be about 3 million. Haven't seen anything approaching 10000, but you might be right; it's not being covered. But wouldn't Bluesky or substacks mention protests of 100k?
It's just starting. Give it time. It's growing. I found out about it through substack, so don't discount it or Bluesky just yet. Just keep your eyes pealed for it.
Thank you! Headed to the state Capitol this afternoon for a rally organized by the county Dem party. It's a small thing, but not nothing.
Excellent! Every one of us counts.
Hello Winston. With the world falling apart, we are running out of time. Even this Krugman article is all about urgency! Yes, I know all the courts, for example, aren't in for Trump, but the trajectory is to more compliance, not less; every day there is erosion of public service and institutions, at a rate so fast that in a couple of weeks, there will be nothing functioning. And when the first US soldier crosses our border, we'll be at war; even that will be a line in the sand that Americans will step over. With apologies to Trump (not): 'Grab them by the pusillanimous. When you are a star, they let you do anything.'
Ah, I didn't realize you're in Canada. There's no way in hell we'll allow Trumpkopf to attack Canada - or any of our allies. That would instantly break the camels back and trigger a civil war.
But you've already betrayed Ukraine.
Who controls the big guns? Right now it's very scary people. I wish I could be so reassuring, but I can't.
I do think there would be widespread resistance at this point. A lot of folks who spent 60 years hearing that Russia is the enemy are now dismayed to find that Putin is a wonderful guy.
I believe there would be a lot of resistance to attacking Canada. I don't think that will be tried soon. First will come economic warfare.
We may implode before we prove to be a military threat.
Rachel Maddow is the only news person showing video of these individual protests happening all over the US. When taken together, there very well could be 10K people.
Not true re "only Maddow". I'm seeing video of individual protests on many of the MSNBC programs. Of course, that's MSNBC not corporate media. But I have seen some reporting on a couple of our local corporate broadcast news programs. We can't assume that just because we haven't seen it, it isn't happening. And the protests are occurring with increasing frequency even in small towns all over the country. I learn about them by reading and watching a very wide range of information sources.
Please page down here to KMD's comment about protests in every county in Maine, for one example.
I bet it's more than 10K or are you just talking about NY or DC?
BTW Trump’s pauses the tariffs (AGAIN!)
I think he’s getting blowback from business leaders.
How many people were there? We had around 100 people in a GOP area protesting on Tuesday and I saw nothing about it. It wasn't 1% but considering the location it was impressive.
I don't have a knack for guessing crowd sizes, but I'd say we had somewhere between 2000 - 5000 in front of Faux Headquarters. It was a decent size crowd. I would have preferred 100,000, but considering this is only week 4, it's not half bad.
Naturally, the lamestream media played it down. I saw a video camera there with the AP logo on it, and when I browsed to AP's website, it wasn't on the homepage, but they did cover it, I just had to search for the article.
Yes we are! Last Saturday, on a cold, windy & drizzly day, there were protests in all 16 counties of Maine! Friends & I attended the Hancock County protest in front of the Ellsworth City Hall, our county seat, which was attended by over 300 people. Similar protests were held in the Hancock county towns of Bar Harbor & Bucksport.
There were good speakers, terrific homemade signs, music, and very good vibes.
I'm sure there will be many more of these events. Today I counted 16 Letters to the Editor in our weekly newspaper, the Ellsworth American, from people objecting to Trump's actions - probably a record. We are not surrendering in advance!
Good stuff (Canadian here).
Terence, military intervention?? Sorry that avenue has been shut down by the purge of top military leadership.
I'm not convinced of that. The military is probably split roughly 50/50 politically. Either way, we're in for a rough ride.
I agree, but we know it won't happen.
Crypto is now and has always been nothing more than a pyramid scheme. The scammer tells you you can buy a handful of nothing (I'm old enough to remember you had to buy equipment to "mine' it yourself), tells other people the same, sucker's start buying, small payouts are made by robbing Peter to pay Paul all while Peter and Paul convince their family members to buy too, then Peter gets a small payout from Paul's granny's money and on it goes until the day everyone tries to cash out ay once or the scammer just runs off with all the actual cash.
This is where Musk talks it up about social security veing a corrupt ponzi scheme, while an actual ponzi scheme gets executed by Trump and gis cronies.
EAIAC is the iron-clad rule of RW politics.
A form of innoculation - if we accuse others first, it seems less credible when they accuse us. Russiagate (russia, russia, russia), weaponize the FBI, the fake news, the enemy within, etc.
I'M old enough to remember when the 'equipment needed to mine it yourself' was...your computer. A friend even mined a few Bitcoin at the beginning; I think he cashed them in for a few bucks at some point soon after.
And now people are building entire rooms off their garage and adding a second air conditioning unit to keep it cool, but still after all that have to give actual money to someone else to get the "currency". My facepalm is facepalming it's so absurd.
Matt Gaetz's buddy burned down a gov't-owned building setting up a Crypto mining set-up. He's such an idiot he didn't know you had to have a cooling system.
"Greenberg also navigated a political quagmire after the Orlando Sentinel reported he had inappropriately funneled $3.5 million of taxpayer dollars to his friends, including three men who were in his wedding party.
An independent audit conducted for the county also found he had used public funds to buy body armor, weapons, ammunition and a drone. He also purchased a $90,000 server room to benefit a cryptocurrency company he created. Those servers overloaded a circuit breaker inside a county building, sparking a fire that caused $6,700 in damages that weren’t covered by insurance, the audit said."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/03/31/joel-greenberg-matt-gaetz-investigations/
I think most people miss (do not see) one of the layers of Trump's actions: creating the exciting/mesmerizing events.
Here, all the crime/bribe/graft opportunities of "national crypto reserve" are undeniable, but for Trump the drama ITSELF, both during the hype period, AND during the inevitable crash period, is of great value.
Trump's voters vote not so much for policies/results, but for the SPECTACLE. And Trump delivers. As he has the skill to convince voters that the spectacle is mostly about them being better off (facts be damned), his actions are RATIONAL. Do not miss this.
It's debatable whether or not we can label the actions of a psychopath "rational", however the spectacle is the curtain, as in "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain". You can also think of it as a smokescreen to nask the theft.
I genuinely wonder whether Trump is not seeing himself like a pro-wrestling saga (along multiple arena events, over time) script writer and producer. For a pro-wrestling producer the most important thing is that people buy the tickets. Income from concession stands sure figures in the spreadsheet, but is not the central point.
So I think that the drama/performance could be central to Trump. OF COURSE the reason he is turning the whole USA into a WWE type entertainment business IS money, but there is more to it. Like movie business - yes, money is a part of it, but you need to have some feel and love for the poetry of the silver screen to be a good producer.
This fits into the narrative of the psychopath. Psychopaths >really< love attention. Not all narcissists are psychopaths, but all psychopaths are narcissists.
Are we forgetting that Trump is showing clear signs of dementia? I suspect shadowy grifters behind the scenes (and ketamine-fueled grifters in front of the curtain). Trump’s ability to mastermind or even implement such a scheme is diminishing. All he knows is that there are billions and billions of dollars to be made if he reads the teleprompter and Sharpie-signs the right orders. He’s still capable of doing that. So far.
for sure. "mastermind" does not apply to Trump, if it ever did. He has the attention span of a gnat. But those behind him are smart, and evil.
As somone said during his first term, when he was noticeably less demented, he's an idiot, but he's very good at it.
He’s got very smart idiots pulling his strings. The puppet dances without fail
This is complex. For example professional aviators are in a race between gradually decreasing cognitive abilities (mainly a slowdown) and continuously being accumulated experience, since the age 55-60. And some can keep up, net, into a quite advanced age. So I am cautious with "Trump is senile". Eventually, yes. Soon? Probably. Now? I am not sure.
Also, intelligence/cognition is multidimensional. I am inclined to think that Trump's intelligence is distributed a bit abnormally between observable dimensions. Maybe what we see as "senility" was his norm, give or take, and he always compensated by being sharp indeed in things not that easily demonstrated in casual observation.
Quite a few psychiatrists and psychologists, including his niece, psychologist Mary Trump, have come to this conclusion. He has three first-degree relatives who had Alzheimer’s. His language deterioration stands out for me as being different than just the signs of stress overload.
Shell games work the same way and Trump is an expert con man.
ABSOLUTELY. Many people miss this. More than a few voted for the entertainment value.
To be clear, I think it is something much worse than "voting for the entertainment value". I believe that US politics became a "rating game" - voters choose the show offered by Trump over boring talks about policies and their REAL consequences presented by competing politicians. Then, voters act as if that show WAS the reality.
It is not "voting for the kicks of it, for the most funny performer". These voters want to believe that what they watch with most interest, does correspond to the reality. And vote according to this belief.
In a sense it is very similar to people watching "Fox news" and totally not watching CNN or other program actually reporting the news.
I think I get what you mean--you mean they don't have a clear sense of reality.
They think whatever they decide IS reality? And they wish to ignore aspects of reality they dislike?
That they can make reality happen the way they want if they choose Trump? (I suppose that's true...)
I think many rightwing voters do believe that their feelings matter much more than anything else, and they are willing to ignore many aspects of reality. The way they think, is very different! For one thing, if some aspect of reality upsets them or affects how they feel about themselves, they want to erase it. They believe they have the right to erase it. If something about Black people upsets them, like the history of injustice towards them, they believe they should just be able to take that book out of school. Emotionally, they are often entitled. So they don't care if it is TRUE just that it makes them feel bad.
And they really want to feel GOOD so it's easy to manipulate them and flatter them and lie to them and they get very very very angry if you mess with their image of themselves or what they want to be true. It's very similar to Trump with Zelinskyy --Zelinskyy didn't mean to insult him, he simply treated him as an equal, which is actually much more respectful than the way other people treat Trump, which is as someone who is a giant baby who needs to be flattered, but Trump only got angry when someone treated him as an equal, not from someone slavishly bowing to him, and lying to him.
Is that what's going on or is it something else?
All you wrote is true, I think. You pointed to specific quite real phenomena. Part of the wider story unraveling too-damn-fast, the story which I do not understand wholly myself.
I have to continuously restrain myself from proclaiming "Here! I understand this all!" every morning. Mainly because I remember this "understanding of the day" is different a bit from my "totally comprehensive understanding" of the previous morning.
There is this notion of a "paradigm", which I believe (I am too narrowly a STEM to have a deeper education in social sciences) was (the word/notion) invented to describe the way the whole society thinks/perceives the reality around it, the way which is inevitably intertwined (resulting from knowledge, and defining/restricting this knowledge) with what the society knows about the reality. The classic example of the use of this notion is the pre-Copernican vs Enlightenment society. These were living different paradigms. It is not only that the knowledge was different - the QUESTIONS people deemed important were different etc.
One of SF authors illustrated the problem of "different paradigms" in a situation when a scholastic (meaning top-notch medieval academic) asks a modern scholar "OK, so now that the knowledge advance so much, which prime element turned out to be the most fundamental - the earth or the air?". How do you continue such a hypothetical dialogue?
The disorientation we experience now seems to be that described by social scientists as "what happens when the whole paradigm changes", the above mentioned "Copernican revolution" being their example. It is not only that "things are happening", but the way our cognition, as something shared and communicated in the society - changes. I still do not really get it.
That is what I believe is happening in both the moral and political sense—but unlike with science (it is from Kuhn ‘Structure of Scientific Revolutions’) it is not so much that the shift is explaining an anomaly in the data, as it was when we switched from Newtonian to Einsteinium physics but more that there have been different paradigms the whole time. One was ascendant—which was universalistic, liberal, enlightenment morality—ideas that rose in the enlightenment.
The other is fascism, sort of a free-floating reaction to enlightenment, humanistic value system —this system posits a ‘natural hierarchy’ (unjustified because the traits which they consider to be ‘superior’ traits are only superior within this social and economic system (e.g., certain tech skills, coding, etc.) It is inegalitarian, does not want power to be sorted out through negotiation, but rather proposes to rule through violence and coercion, demands obedience, rejects reason (so involves the rejection of science)—and of course the hierarchy involves misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, etc. It attracts people who have a dominance orientation rather than a cooperative orientation.
Morally speaking, fascism involves an an attack on the humanist value system. It finds rationality threatening, partly because rationality can debunk the idea of natural hierarchies, and also points people toward things like valuing the lives of others, impartiality, science in the public interest, the restraint of power, etc.
It’s extremely confusing because most of the people who react negatively to it are within a different moral paradigm and dealing with or negotiating with people who don’t share your paradigm is difficult—but especially in this case because there is no overlap given that it’s a reaction to your value system (if it is humanistic). There’s no overlap by design. They want to kill our value system, and stamp it out forever. They are very parasitic on other people’s morality and the voluntary cooperation of other people —so this is a way those people can be confusing—they will use moral concepts and then yank them away. They will say ‘you’re being unfair’ when they don’t believe in fairness. Then they will use other people’s fairness to gain some ground and reverse their position immediately after they have made these gains. So it is highly contradictory. They operate much like the mafia—what bands them together is they all want the same morally bad things.
A lot of people have seen the rise of fascism to be caused by the failure of capitalism…and in a way that doesn’t make sense here. Capitalism hadn’t failed. In another way, it is a bit of a surprise because they are destroying capitalism as it previously operated and creating some kind of gangster situation.
So that is involving huge political shifts like the destruction of democracy and the constitution and the alliance between the US and authoritarian governments, as opposed to democracy. Also, it is parasitic on liberal democracy. It doesn’t have a driving ideology in the typical sense—just one born from reaction. So it simply means ‘worship the ruler, who is above the law.’ As you see, people can be fanatically identified with that, but it’s hard for it to last over time because the rulers suck and people come to see that.
Eventually, it collapses from the weight of its corruption but it can take decades. So I hope people figure out how to limit it soon.
Thank you for your reply. Some things you wrote explain - at least to me - what we observe "these days". Maybe "explain" is a wrong word - you put a structure and useful names on raw observations. Which is somehow useful etc. As you see, I am badly deficient in "theory of cognition", I do not even know the correct name of such field, if there is any. I trained to do theoretical physics stuff, seemed important in ancient times.
BTW, I think we live in the times when social sciences, anthropology and such got weaponized and their applications determine winners and losers in the global contests. Just like engineering was suddenly important militarily in 19th century, and advanced physics in the 20th.
Odds of a pardon for Sam Bankman Fried, who will then be put in charge of the "Reserve"??
No way. Fried committed the far more serious crime of donating to Democrats and liberal causes.
And like Bernie Madoff, he committed the most unforgivable sin...he cheated rich people...
Dotard: "If I pardon you, will you sing my praises?"
Fried: "Faster than you can slap a dollar sign on a new goofy-assed crypto name."
That might be the case - unless he agrees to prostrate himself "properly" in accordance with Trumpkopf's definition of "properly". Not to mention agreeing to "properly" schmear His Orange MAGA Majesty.
Publically. Privately he and his company donated as much or more to Republicans.
It was always a scam.
It depends on how much grease he agrees to spread on King MAGA's hand.
No SBF supported democratic causes. He'll have to turn into an ardent MAGA.
😂
Let's not forget the $100 million Trump made, in just 2 weeks, on transaction fees for $Trump. Easy money and he profits, regardless of where it goes for investors.
And without having to resort to his usual leveraging. That's his specialty.
Trump has created many ways to launder bribes. The first used his “properties” to take fees for hotel rooms and events. Then came all the utterly ridiculous merch—$300 spray-painted sneakers, signed bibles, $100,000 watches bought from an NY street vendor. NFTs digitized his scam. Then Truth Social (for which he bought a SPAC to skirt financial regulation) enabled his grift through financial markets, and now, he’s got full on, crypto-enabled bribe schemes with no limits on the bribes that can be paid. The man is a walking con job. I’m completely at a loss for how we stop the corruption, of which laundered bribes are only a small part. The guy should be swinging from a lamppost in front of a gas station.
Also buying and selling properties at above and below market value is a great way to hide payments being made to you, or payments being made to others. There seems to be some evidence for that happening, as well.
Thank you! Great point. This was a big omission on my part and is probably the first real scam he used to launder bribes.
I assumed you meant that, as well, so I added it.
Using the Bank of Under the Mattress is looking ever more prudent.
What about the Bank of Canada? They have solid banking rules. They were featured in the book Flash Boys.
Now, There's a thought!!
Don't believe it. Those $ can be stolen even easier. When the inevitable crash happens, what's going to be sacrificed, the $ you earn? Or the stocks billionaires hold?
T-bills?
If it's converted to 100 year bonds, those will be the first instruments raided for crypto that can't be cashed in for a century. I've thought they're just salivating to take Warren Buffett for a ride, as he's a rich person advocating that other oligarchs need to pay their taxes like he does so that the squeezed citizenry on both ends can have some breathing room--or to continue the 2/3 consumer spending that props up his low-to-no competition companies purchased during "market corrections".
With debasement of currency - even more inevitable in the future - you'll lose minimum of 2% a year of its value.
I’m still waiting to see if Warren Buffet buys crypto….. until then buyer beware
He thinks it’s digital snake oil.
FYI - Per Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger -
Cryptocurrency, in any form, is not an investment, it’s a speculative gamble. It produces nothing, has no intrinsic value, and relies solely on the hope that someone else will buy it for a higher price. The idea that the U.S. government should create a "Crypto Strategic Reserve" is reckless and absurd. Why would we back a reserve with digital tokens that are subject to wild price swings and manipulation? The real way to strengthen America’s economy is through productive assets, not digital snake oil.
"The real way to strengthen America’s economy is through productive assets". Where does that fit in a world rapidly moving to a digital AI economy? Facebook is worth billions yet what is its "productive assett" other than as a large speakers corner for grabbing attention? I notice you're writing here on Substack - a company valued at $650m. Where does it's value really lie? What does value even mean?
Please remember we are talking about truly worthless digital “coins” here. Yes, there is a valuable digital economy that provides real services (like Substack), though I would not yet include the “hype of AI” as valuable. And, none of what you said directly relates to meme coins. Your point also applies to every overvalued stock now being traded.
Buffet is way too smart to do that. As Jeremiah R. put it "Buffet invests in the real economy, in companies that generate ongoing economic value".
He never will. Buffett invests in the real economy, in companies that generate ongoing economic value. He might invest in Coinbase, but never DogeCoin.
He’s already done it with the traditional stock market. Every time the tariffs are on, the indices plummet 2%. Then a last minute reprieve. Market climbs again, until everyone who shorted the market cashes in their options and futures. Repeat.
Keep an eye on whose portfolios are swelling the fattest, and how much they paid the inauguration party slush fund.
As uncertainty about trade policies and general political unrest start to sink in, I suspect the markets will reflect the growing unease of the general public.
Most people don't know what is happening but they're smelling the smoke in the distance and are getting wary. You aren't going to invest in the future if you think an out of control fire is coming your way.
He’s backtracked on the Canadian tariffs AGAIN today. Another month pause!
Yes, Trump seems to be about to destroy us all.
As if living under our own version of a Putin would not be bad enough, and it would be miserable, he is also out to destroy our whole economy, as well, with these schemes and does not care at all.
It is all pay to play.
If you want to be spared, buy some protection, mafia style.
You would think him cutting 70,000 jobs from the Department of Veteran's affairs would move some (a few) of the GOP in congress ready to to flip to independent and caucus with the Dems to stop all of this, by flipping power in congress.
We only need a few brave souls in the House and Senate to stand up and do this so that congress can once again act as a separate branch of government.
They have nothing to lose, since as a swing vote, they would have a lot of power, but at least they could help stop the madness.
If Jefferies and Schumer are not approaching them with massive "pot sweeteners" to get them do this, I will be really pissed off !!!
We are in a massive crisis - this is no time for ideological purity or party identity issues.
We may have no country (or Phoenix left to rise form the ashes) if they think the GOP crashing and burning will help them win future elections - there may never be another real election at all and millions will suffer from what Trump may do.
They need to find a way to get a few from the other side on board or band together and create some sort of opposition coalition.
There is no time to lose.
I think the legislators on both sides look outside and the sun is still shining. They want to believe that the sky isn't falling. The ship will right itself in short order. That's the message I'm getting from a lot of Democratic legislators. The ex-Presidents are silent.
I want to believe normalcy will return and in the long run it may.
I'm scared for the future especially for my six kids. One of my sons asked if I thought it would be a good time to have kids, before I've always said yes because I'm an optimist, but this time I said no. Not in the US.
I have not heard any Dem claim this is not an emergency.
The problem is that the GOP have 100% full control of congress so the Dems can't even get a bill to the floor or get anything going in the House or Senate.
They can't help other than ask us to organize and especially those who live in GOP run districts.
Thus, for now we are hoping the courts will come to the rescue, but they move more slowly than we want.
The GOP in congress are letting Trump break the law when he fires people and withholds spending. It is illegal.
Thus, the few good GOPers left, and they tend to also tow the line need to be approached because even they are seeing the damage it will do to their own districts and states.
James Carville advised Democrats to play dead until the ogre immolates himself and his Government. I'm not sure that is the best strategy. The collateral damage might be too real. An entire continent was in ashes before Hitler was done with.
Great point. It may be our last chance to stop irreversible damage. I don’t want to think about options for stopping this madness beyond the legal and constitutional.
The republican suits lined up fElon to remind him that he can make suggestions, but it is THEY who have the power of the purse & he's NOT replacing their gravy train reason for existence.
A strategic crypto reserve is like a strategic rock reserve. The government digs up a pile of rocks and stacks them somewhere. Precisely what good would this do? Buyers of risk assets disappear in a crisis. A few electrons won’t buy food, a missile or a gun when everything goes south. All this serves to do is transfer tax receipts to a handful of crypto bros. History will not look kindly on it.
A "somewhere" known as Fort Knox.
"A few electrons won’t buy food, a missile or a gun when everything goes south" - but electrons in AI will be generating smarter ways to cultivate food, design missiles and activate robot troops to prevent real people shooting each other. Do you think we'll be living in a less digital world in the future or a more digital world?
So then what do you think the link will be between AI and digital coins? Othe than, say an AI built world where people buy things, like many role playing games . Just because AI might aid in crops or robot making there still need to be people to plant and harvest the crops and someone to put together the robots. Crypto is hot air funny money. It's not going to get anyone anything of real value.
What’s funnier than fiat money where the government just prints more of it so the value decreases ? This system just creates exponential growth in supply and therefore exponential decline in value. Bitcoin however will only ever have 21million coins in existence. Ever. The whole economic system has 5 years to figure it out. By 2030 the world will be unidentifiable to how it is today. You think we need people to plant and harvest crops ? You haven’t seen the robots that build cars and autonomous tractors ? Take a look at the work China are doing in the humanoid robot sphere.crypto just connects those AI dots.
Just a Coin cidence
If crypto is supposed to be better and more secure than the US dollar, why does this reserve back up crypto with THE US DOLLAR?? WTF?