Monthly Archives: March 2022

More stable than their currencies

Whatever the human toll of the war in Ukraine, the ugly reality is that conflicts between nation states are won or lost as much in the monetary realm as on the battlefield.

Keeping the machinery of war raging forward will leave even the wealthiest of countries in dire financial straits. Many will resort to currency debasement, capital restrictions and unsustainable foreign debt to fund their violence. Superpowers who control the global financial architecture will often deploy sanctions to strangle lesser economies, wiping out entire business sectors and goading impoverished citizens to overthrow their leaders.

One way or another: once the money runs dry, the guns soon fall silent.

Russias unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine will be no exception. Neither side can afford a war with no end. Yet the emergence of a new form of sovereign digital money is distinguishing this conflict from all that came before it.

Never before has the ability to finance a war and to shield oneself from monetary attack rested in the hands of individual citizens wielding smartphones and making personal choices without scrutiny from their government, bank or law enforcement agency. The financial libertarianism that bitcoin unlocks for the world has no parallel in history. Whether it will be written about as a force for good or for evil by historians will depend not on the underlying technology which is apolitical and incorruptible but on the scruples with which society collectively deploys it.

Ukraines government fired the opening salvo on this front on February 26th, when deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov appealed directly to global citizens not their political representatives to donate money for his countrys war effort in bitcoin and two other cryptocurrencies.

Fedorov did not ask his audience to lobby their governments for military aid. He did not solicit donations through the cumbersome, inefficient, state-supervised infrastructure that allows bank-account holders in Seattle, Sierra Leone and Shanghai to send money to Kiev. Instead, he posted a 34-character bitcoin address in a single tweet. Anyone on the planet who copied that address and pasted it into their digital wallet was then able to teleport a donation instantly, at the click of a button, for virtually no cost, and without needing the help or permission of an intermediary.

Its easy for Westerners living in democracies to downplay the significance of this technological feat. Westerners are accustomed to opening banking apps on our phones and swiping away our globally accepted dollars or euros. Those living in poorer countries, less so. Westerners are not accustomed to being bundled into the back of a police van because our latest bank statement included a payment to a disagreeable party. Those living in autocratic countries, more so.

Bitcoin is the first genuinely peer-to-peer monetary network the world has ever known. The individual freedom it enshrines is now helping a friendly government protect its people from a hostile one: at the time of writing, 220 bitcoin worth $9.6m had been donated to Ukraine. Crucially, as a borderless and permissionless network its also protecting benefactors many Russians among them, no doubt from persecution at home.

And yet with the good, comes the bad.

Just as an army can both liberate or annihilate a population, so bitcoin can both set people free or empower their tyrants.

Western efforts to punish Russia economically through wide-ranging sanctions and exclusion from the international payment system Swift expose the dark side of monetary freedom. Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs in his pocket will likely try to use bitcoin to circumvent restrictions. According to Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), this ability to defang Western policy underlines the need for regulation in cryptocurrency markets. According to Ukraines Fedorov, the risk is so great that all Russians should be banned from cryptocurrency exchanges.

Lagardes stance needs serious caveats. Regulation, in principle, is acceptable to all but the most radical libertarians. But the devil is in the detail. The fully transparent, open-ledger transaction history on which bitcoin is built already helps law enforcement track illicit funds. Credible exchanges already block dirty bitcoin that is known to be the proceeds of crime. They already comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) anti-money laundering legislation. These protocols can, should and will be used to target sanctioned Russians, more or less trapping their ill-gotten gains within the cryptosphere. But regulation must not become a smokescreen for attacking bitcoin and blocking law-abiding citizens from taking custody of their wealth an ulterior motive that Lagarde clearly harbors, believing its the ECBs god-given right to bind Europeans to a monetary system that dissolves the value of their savings through negative real interest rates.

Fedorovs proposal, meanwhile, should be dismissed out of hand.

Russian citizens are not the enemy. They are not responsible for Putins actions; they certainly never voted him into office, and theyre now paying dearly for his madness. Binance, one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchanges, struck the correct tone in response to his appeal: We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users accounts, it told CNBC. Crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe.

Its important to recognize than bitcoin will help ordinary Russians as much as and very likely more so than their Ukrainian counterparts. Russian inflation had already surpassed 8% by the end of last year. It will now, inevitably, skyrocket as supply chains collapse, energy prices surge, and panic takes hold in financial markets.

Bitcoins fixed supply and seizure-resistant, non-physical design are attractive traits for civilians on both sides of the border who need to protect their assets from inflation and government overreach. Whether they take up arms or not, civilians rarely escape the cost of war. Those who survive the bombs are left to pay for them. If theyre lucky, their government will secure a debt repayment plan while rolling out tax hikes that saddle an entire generation with the cost of its military adventurism. If theyre unlucky, they face total financial destruction through hyperinflation. Thats what happened in Hungary in the aftermath of WWII, when former currency the peng was losing 90% of its value every four days. Its replacement, the forint, lopped 29 zeros off the nominal value of the old notes.

The consequences for Hungarians who had stored their life savings in peng does not need elaborating.

On February 28th, following a weekend of deteriorating fortunes for Russias military, the ruble lost nearly a quarter of its value in a single day. It continues to depreciate rapidly. Moscow has responded by banning foreigners from exiting local investments and doubling the interest rate to 20%. Russian citizens will be targeted next. These are the agonized contortions of an economy that is burning from the inside out. The ruble need not go the way of the peng for Russians to have their wealth erased with the stroke of a pen.

Bitcoin, as the ECBs Lagarde eloquently but unintentionally put it last year, is the solution. If there is an escape, she said, that escape will be used. Her remarks were meant to convince democratic governments that bitcoin is a threat to the established financial order. Instead, they show undemocratic ones that global citizens can no longer be robbed and abused with impunity.

The rest is here:
Bitcoin Earns Its Stripes In The War In Ukraine - Forbes

The Beacon is still looking for my replacement. But until one is found, I have the great honor of being allowed to fill in the blank spots for the time being. Ill be cleaning up topics I want to flog one final time. Dont like it? You can do better? Then start typing.

Northwest Montana has trended into a pretty conservative place politically, enough so that most of our elected Republican officials feel comfortable in actually acting like Republicans voters expect, or at least hope. That goes double for Flathead County, which pretty much ranks with Billings in terms of concentrated and unified GOP influence.

Well, one thing good conservatives, classical liberals, AND libertarians expect from those they elect is respect for property rights, as in no person shall be deprived [of] property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Our Republican legislators and county commissioners clearly take property rights seriously. But in nonpartisan elected positions, where progressives can still win, or become judges, property rights are conditional on political whimsy.

One new, shining example of this whimsy, or hypocrisy if you will, is the screaming in Whitefish about Mountain Gateway. Mark Jones, of course, has the resources to defend his property rights on his 126,000-acre instant ranch, but when it comes to others, he threatens to withdraw his charitable affordable housing largesse? Now, thats whimsy. Im not optimistic at all about the future of our historic public use and enjoyment of his holdings in southern Flathead County.

Longer term, theres the Dockstader Island mess. Has anyone considered that, prior to construction of Kerr Dam, which raised Flathead Lake 10 feet, Dockstader Island was a peninsula? Montana Cadastral shows how now-mostly drowned lakeshore properties legally run a considerable distance into the lake, including theres a cherrystemmed-but-drowned beach lot in front of the Dockstader rock.

So why the hullabaloo? Well, thanks mostly to my scrumming around in the dark money cesspool, Ive made it my practice to Google nonprofit or political legal domiciles. Its a great way to determine if a group is real, or just an Astroturf pop-up with a UPS Store box as world headquarters, or run out of a law or public-relations office under contract.

Last fall I was going through some documents on other issues and found a legal filing from an environmental group, Headwaters Montana. So, with Google Earth available, including street views, I just couldnt resist popping Headwaters Montana. No, its actually a real place the home of the professional environmentalist/community organizer who runs Headwaters.

Where is it? Across Holt Road, with a lovely (and Im sure, quite marketable) view of the lake and formerly pristine Dockstader Island. His investment is safe at last, or will be as soon as the owners dig out the bridge. Thing is, the family that bought his view, and had a right to their dream, is apparently fiscally broken, crushed under the legal weight of an organized community. Worse, the lady who owned the parcel is dead. Gosh, isnt that enough? You could buy lawyers, kids, so how about hiring a removal crew yourselves?

Shameful.

Then theres the Montana Artesian fiasco. I crunched the numbers for you in 2017. Heres some more. Yes, it was a new water right, but it was from the deep aquifer, a literal 30-by-10 mile underground lake, with inflows of 213,000 acre feet (AF) a year, current pumping about 23,500 AF, with 190,000 AF yet unappropriated (available for beneficial use).

Objectively, there was really no reason to deny the permit. The neighbors just didnt want water trucks on their roads and/or their views messed up by Mr. Weaver using his property as he saw fit. So they formed a nonprofit in order to be able to take a tax deduction for their legal fees, and away we went. Eventually, the right judges were found (in another county, and later, here).

For me, the biggest disappointment was the ballot initiative, which retroactively spot-zoned the bottling plant. Clearly, too many Flathead voters have a double standard, falling to whimsy when they should be standing on principle.

Go here to see the original:
Property Wrongs - Flathead Beacon

To the editor:

I am a 72-year-old man who already has one foot in the grave, but I am really worried about what the future will be like in our society.

Since 1980 Ive watched the growth of a cold-hearted, survival-of-the-fittest, social Darwinist mentality among many conservative Republicans in the conservative news media, on conservative talk shows, in conservative think tanks and policy institutes and especially in the U.S. Congress.

More and more of these people want to abolish every single federal government social program that helps the middle classes and lower classes. I dont think that most Americans are aware of this.

These people are now much more conservative than are our Republican voters.

What also scares the dickens out of me is the growth of an over-the-top and extreme hyper-individualism and libertarianism in which so many of us believe that we have no responsibilities to each other and that we only have a concern with me-me-me and what I want to do.

And we smugly and defiantly call this selfish and self-absorbed narcissism personal choice.

Stewart B. EpsteinRochester, N.Y.

Here is the original post:
Letter to the editor: Selfish, anti-social conservatives worry reader - theperrynews.com

Filing ended today for the May 24 party primaries and non-partisan elections for prosecuting attorneys and judgeships.

No major surprises on the final day.

You can view all the candidates here. The Republican Party had more than twice the number of candidates as Democrats with more than 200 filing for state offices. The Republicans also said there was a surge of Republican filings at the county level. Not in Pulaski County, however. A Republican filed for only one countywide office sheriff. Republicans are vying for nine of the 15 Quorum Court seats, where they currently hold five. Four of the five are unopposed and Doug Reed, whos been challenging the county mask mandate, is not seeking re-election.

Five Democrats, two Republicans a Libertarian and four write-ins filed for governor.

Democrats did field candidates in all four congressional races and the race for U.S. Senate as well as all the statewide offices.

Among judicial contests, incumbent Justice Rhonda Wood, despite facing an ethics complaint over her embarrassing involvement in matters related to dubious fund-raising exposed in the Gilbert Baker bribery trial (he also raised money from the same sources for her), drew no opponent.

Two other incumbents face challengers. Justice Robin Wynne has two opponents, state agency lawyer David Sterling and Circuit District Judge Chris Carnahan, both running for the non-partisan race while touting Republican credentials. Justice Karen Baker is faced by another Republican-branded opponent, former state Senator Gunner DeLay.

Three Democrats, four Republicans, a Libertarian and two write-ins were joined by Stuart Shirrell of Little Rock, an independent, in the race for John Boozmans Senate seat.

Get ready for millions in ads for Republicans running for governor and Senate, all vying to be the most Trumpian in their races. Good time to turn off the TV. The six-Republican race for the meaningless office of lieutenant governor remains one of the most interesting from the loony Chris Bequette to the bombastic bully of Bigelow, Jason Rapert, with the attorney general, a former Republican state chair, a county judge and the surgeon general in between.

View post:
Election filing closes. Get ready for the TV deluge - Arkansas Times

Cheers, Beer Nerd!I just wanted to proclaim my appreciation of Mike Riedel and the Beer Nerd column. My father, mother and various brothers all eagerly await it as a weekly delightpulling it out, pinning it up and discussing with an eager eye toward sampling these new beverages so kindly placed on our culinary horizons.JACOB WILKSDraper

American IgnoranceToday, America conducts democracy by opinion polling. What do the people think about Ukraine? Let's be guided by that.

But what if the people are not thinking straight? What if they are burdened by emotional distress, debilitating physical ailments, unhappy employment?

What if they did not pay attention in school and did not get a college education? What if they did get a degree, but after college they have not cracked a serious book about public policy in years?

What if they blindly parrot what self-interested political party leaders beg them to believe? What if the average citizen polled on a given day has never read an actual book of American history, or any other history?

How good is our bright, shiny, breaking-news poll then? It becomes a measure of our ignorance, not our wisdom. Democracy requires knowledge and participation, not polls.KIMBALL SHINKOSKEYWoods Cross

"'Diplomacy' Is the Problem," Feb. 24 Soap BoxAfter reading Thomas Knapp's op-ed in City Weekly, I see that he and Tucker Carlson both have a very skewed view of the situation in Eastern Europe.

Does it matter that the vast majority of Belarussians and Ukrainians want nothing to do with an autocratic Russia? Does it matter that Putin is directly responsible for undermining democracy in both those countries and others? Does it matter that Putin is so afraid of the truth that he has been willing to countenance numerous deaths of journalists reporting on his regime over the years?

Does it matter that he locks up his political competitors like dogs purely for their opposition? Does it matter that he has recklessly endangered the lives of foreign nationals in order to poison dissidents living abroad? Does it matter that he has invented a fake history of Ukrainian-Russian relations to justify plunging Europe into barbarism simply to exercise control over a neighboring sovereign country?

I think Knapp's blind spots can largely be explained by his blind adherence to an Ayn Randian philosophy that has little to do with reality. Libertarianism sounds great on the surface. Dig a little deeper, though, and you see that it's really all about justifying excess at the expense of others. This is exactly what plutocrats like Putin base their ugly behavior on. The only thing that matters to him is himself and his co-conspirators. The little people need to just stay out of the way and, if they intervene in any way, they shouldn't expect any more than a bullet between the eyes.

It's true that America has a lot to answer for with its many misadventures abroad over the years. But it is Putin that's on the wrong side of history this time around.DAVID HARRISSalt Lake City

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Read more:
Feedback from February 24 and Beyond - Salt Lake City Weekly