Quote from: QuestionAuthority on December 04, 2015, 03:03:42 PM

Quote from: STT on December 04, 2015, 11:57:00 AM

Quote from: cjmoles on December 03, 2015, 10:28:50 PM

I think that we're on the same team here. We need to start fixing our system from the top down instead of the
bottom up. Instead of disarming citizens by attacking the Bill of Rights, disarm big money by limiting their control over the populace. What many US citizens forget here is that the power of the US Constitution lies in the fact that the people have the power to enforce it if need be. Bitcoin and its ability to decentralize the control of the flow of "money" is the means by which we might achieve those goals. Instead of attacking people like Ulbricht, we should be concentrating on the solutions to fixing our corrupted economical power base. I believe that an attack on Ulbricht is an attack on the Bitcoin community in general!

Capitalism goes hand in hand with democracy and the diversified money flow helps to stem many failed ideas from growing too large. Where as a large centralised monetised form of government is a snake with two heads and hard to stop no matter how wrong it becomes, not that I oppose government but unrestrained in its funding they can make gigantic mistakes that wider society still has to pay for since money can never be free but is nationally diverted labour and production. At the moment they borrow and that cost is bought from abroad but eventually it will not pay for itself but cost others lost purchasing power on their dollar etc

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Punishing Ulbricht can't really be compared to a worldwide recession. In a recession many factors come together to create an economic decline. There is no one industry or business to blame and there certainly isn't one individual to blame. I suppose you could blame most of the problem on the mortgage industry that allowed 3-1 and 5-1 arm mortgages with unbearable balloon payments to crush the banks with foreclosures but how do you punish them? That's different from punishing an individual that committed a crime against society.

How the banks are punished is that when their loans do not repay, that business fails and no longer exists. Working parts are passed onto more steady hands to manage and pay off debt. That is the cost of capital that you lose ownership if your efforts are not profitable to justify the ideas and setup used. The main reason this didnt happen is the banks were acting on a government scheme and it was government who had been wrong in encouraging what was a failed idea, so they diverted what should have been a collapse of that idea. Comparatively if bitcoin had a fatal flaw or if mt.gox was propped up by Ulbricht it would be a nonsense, but I imagine with enough money diverted he may have done it. People would hate that idea but thats basically the dollar system, lopsided to rely on certain ideas to balance the books and nobody dares challenge that weakness or deal with its failure

That's the most rational and accurate argument I've seen so far. I do agree that capitalism is a flawed system that unwittingly creates favoritism in its treatment of certain market sectors. At best it promotes inequity and at worst it supports devastating failures. Voodoo economics, trickle down theory, Obama's bailout bonanza, Carter's ignore it economics, Clinton and Nixon's outright economic corruption are all testimony to the failure of the current system. Auto manufacturer bailouts and bank bailouts are a joke played on the American people.

What can you do about it? That's the real question and the impossible task at hand. The core of the problem and the reason for the lack of change is blinding in its simplicity. The American people have a standard of living that is just good enough to keep them pacified and content. Historically, strife and pain have fueled rebellion. US citizens are too fat, dumb and happy to rebel. Oh sure, they crawl on top of their soapbox occasionally, holding the keys to their new car in one hand and a Big Mac in the other, preaching about this minor issue or that one but always afraid to really change anything for fear of losing it all. This situation will continue until every God fearin merican really knows suffering.

Are you forgetting Reagan's Iran-Contra incident and his Reaganomics? We seem to forgive some of the biggest corruptions in our society, in return for a stronger government, but at the same time, complain about its inequities when it comes back to bite us in the ass.