When Facebook's Libra Team Came To Congress (prospect.org) 83
"Staffers challenge Facebook's happy talk about its digital currency in a briefing," reports the American Prospect, introducing a new article in a series written anonymously by Congressional staffers, this time a House Democratic aide "who attended a briefing last Thursday with executives who are developing Libra..."
"Such briefings are commonplace to convince staffers who write legislation (and by association the members they serve) of the righteousness of corporate causes." The briefing was fascinating. The lead representative, the head of policy for Libra, kicked it off by admitting that the whole endeavor required a "suspension of disbelief." They were asked about the timeline, and said they hoped to have Libra operational in about a year, which they kept suggesting was a prolonged timeline, but didn't seem lengthy to anyone in the room.
They kept selling Libra as a means of providing banking services to 1.7 billion unbanked people around the world. When challenged on how they were going to do that, and asked directly whether they'd figure out how exactly a digital currency would be an answer for people who can't access credit currently, they said, "The short answer is no." The phrase "the miracle of blockchain" was used at one point...
Because Facebook is proposing to take over a role traditionally under the purview of central banks, not private companies, we should expect the skepticism we heard in the room from staffers to be publicly aired by House Financial Services Committee members on July 17.
"Such briefings are commonplace to convince staffers who write legislation (and by association the members they serve) of the righteousness of corporate causes." The briefing was fascinating. The lead representative, the head of policy for Libra, kicked it off by admitting that the whole endeavor required a "suspension of disbelief." They were asked about the timeline, and said they hoped to have Libra operational in about a year, which they kept suggesting was a prolonged timeline, but didn't seem lengthy to anyone in the room.
They kept selling Libra as a means of providing banking services to 1.7 billion unbanked people around the world. When challenged on how they were going to do that, and asked directly whether they'd figure out how exactly a digital currency would be an answer for people who can't access credit currently, they said, "The short answer is no." The phrase "the miracle of blockchain" was used at one point...
Because Facebook is proposing to take over a role traditionally under the purview of central banks, not private companies, we should expect the skepticism we heard in the room from staffers to be publicly aired by House Financial Services Committee members on July 17.
Satoshi didn't go to congress (Score:3)
Re:Satoshi didn't go to congress (Score:5, Insightful)
Facebook is powerful enough to bypass congress if it wants to.
Why should Facebook, or anyone, need congressional permission on an issue like this? Why should the government get a veto on a cryptocurrency?
I personally think Facebook's currency scheme is idiotic, but in a free society they should be able to do what they want.
Re:Satoshi didn't go to congress (Score:5, Insightful)
Nobody needs permission for a cryptocurrency.
Acting as a bank, OTOH, falls under a lot of regulations. Most of those regulations aren't there because people enjoy passing silly regulations; most are there because in the past, companies have done terrible things which affected people and the economy. The regulations are there because nobody has yet found a better way.
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Libra is not really a cryptocurrency. It's got a centralized ledger, maintained by trusted parties, making it more like a traditional currency.
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America is not a free society. Immigrants in concentration camps at the border can attest. Prisoners can refute. Regulated businesses like those required to have smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, marked exits, emergency exit lighting, maximum occupancy, fire lanes with prohibited parking
Freedom is not a total lack of rules and regulation. That's anarchy, and nobody wants that.
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Freedom is not a total lack of rules and regulation. That's anarchy, and nobody wants that.
Meet me in the gun forum.
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Meet me in the gun forum.
Does the forum have rules ?
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Replying to remove my accidental downmod. I was aiming for Funny but clicked Overrated. Sorry.
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That's not the point. Those rabid motherfuckers don't want any of your slack. It's guns all the way down with permitless carry, no safety training, no class on state laws, no gun registrations, no background checks ...
Re: Satoshi didn't go to congress (Score:1)
Bullshit. America is a free society. The existence of regulation for the betterment of the society, is not evidence of a lack of freedom. Feel free to take another hit from your bong and tell us why fire lanes limit your freedom.
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Nice spin, but no.
Those people are detained, imprisoned, jailed,locked up, caged, constrained, impounded, restrained, restricted, cooped up, put away, all in a small space, as in you know, concentrated in a camp.
I know the difference between bullshit and wild honey.
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Those people are detained, imprisoned, jailed,locked up, caged, constrained, impounded, restrained, restricted, cooped up, put away, all in a small space, as in you know, concentrated in a camp.
So what solution do you propose instead ? Do you want to concentrate them in a higher quality camp (if so, what's your budget) ? Or let them go free ? Or something else ?
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love how your proposed "solutions" for racist concentration camps devolve to a false dichotomy
That's why I offered a 3rd option "something else".
I noticed you didn't provide an answer, so let me rephrase the question in the most neutral way : what is your proposed policy for people who have the intention of immigrating into the United States ? Be comprehensive.
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"Blank" is not a suggested option.
It's a proof you can't think of anything BUT more and bigger concentration camps. Because that's how your brain works.
You're not capable of thinking outside those parameters. I.e. You're not capable of THINKING.
Which is why you're doubling down on your racism - why deny it after all. You LOVE the idea. Just like you love molesting children.
What else is there to justify your miserable existence but the satisfaction that even a sorry sack of shit like you CAN inflict pain on
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As I was saying before a racist child molester [slashdot.org] (and a retard) went crying and begging all around until he founds someone willing to be sucked off in exchange for modding me down...
So what solution do you propose instead ? Do you want to concentrate them in a higher quality camp (if so, what's your budget) ? Or let them go free ? Or something else ?
I love how your proposed "solutions" for racist concentration camps devolve to a false dichotomy of bigger camps vs. an implied "normality" of said concentration camps in "letting go free" phrasing.
Don't look now, but Freud just pulled down your slip and shoved his cancer-ridden cock down your onus probandi.
Although, to be fair, h
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Read up.
I objected to this line:
There are no concentration camps in the US at this time.
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And I guess there are no american tanks in Baghdad either...
Ist that you, Comical Ali?
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"Immigrants in concentration camps at the border can attest."
Wait, they came here not knowing that they would be detained at the boarder? I guess our "concentration camps" must be worse than staying home or going to another one of the many countries they passed to get here.
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Why should Facebook, or anyone, need congressional permission on an issue like this?
Zuckerberg has political ambitions. Before the current privacy scandals and testimony before Congress, it was no secret that he was hoping to run for the President of the US.
He's trying to mend fences now, and make Facebook appear as "your friend and helper".
The literally can buy congress (Score:2)
just hand our free samples of money that would be worth nothing if congress doesn't allow them to give it value.
..they distributed bags of cash? (Score:3)
Something else?
"Suspension of diesbelief"? Seriously? (Score:3)
So they admit directly they are deep in fantasy-land? I guess those that they made the presentation to have about as weak a connection to reality.
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To be fair, all currency requires some level of mutual delusion, suspension of disbelief or shared belief, depending on how you look at it.
take it for what it is (Score:5, Insightful)
Modern economies are hellishly complex. Way, way too big and complicated for anyone to really be "in charge". But central bankers come close. They are some of the most powerful people. Anywhere. Probably more powerful than politicians. When they mess their job up, whole populations wind up in poverty, starve, migrate, or go to war.
Facebook is a profit-driven company that sells advertisements. That's what they do. That's why they exist. Period. Oh, I forget, they also have a lucrative sideline selling people's data to anyone with a checkbook. The social networking website is basically a honeypot to facilitate their core business. Anything positive that comes out of FB is ancillary to the ad and data selling. Don't get me wrong. I'm not down on Facebook. That's capitalism, baby, and they're pretty good at it.
I personally look at these two things and think "combine them? that would be a NO". Sport analogy: if capitalists are the players, central bankers are the referees. The rule-makers. You don't put the players from one team in charge of the refereeing. The whole thing will fall apart.
Central banking is literally too important to be left up to capitalism.
Will they have their own Secret Service and FBI (Score:5, Insightful)
Goddamn! The correct course of action for the federal government is to smack these wiz-kid wannabees back to their fantasy land so hard their grandchildren will have trouble sitting down.
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You know you've fucked up... (Score:1)
... when you go lobby lawmakers and your borrowed buzzwords fail to generate buzz, for they can plainly see you're making shit up as you go along.
Apparently the problem is that the people running the magic-cryptocoin-blockchain-roundabout dog-and-pony show themselves have no idea how to back their claims. They're missing an important piece of the puzzle: Clue.
The only thing that this "libra" is there for is an excuse for teh zuck to mint his own coins. If the USG knows what's good for it, it'll never allow
Why libra and no F-Coin? (Score:3)
JACK: “No. It’s unconstitutional. You can’t make your own currency. That is the federal government’s job.
PRICE: Jack. Look at me. I am not the problem here. The problem is that hard cash is fading. Rapidly. That’s just the way of the world right now. And Bitcoin is spreading — and if Bitcoin takes over we are all in a world of hell. It is unregulated. It has already reached its transaction volume maximum and it is partly controlled by Chinese miners.
With E-Coin we control the ledger and the mining servers — we are the authority. I will make sure that you will have visibility into every single wallet that’s opened: every loan, every transaction. Which means we can start making new assets. Which means we can start rebuilding the banking sector without you having to inject even more politically unpalatable federal funds into it.
JACK: The President will laugh in my face.
PRICE: But he will know that this is the right thing to do. This is going to be controlled by a good old-fashioned American company. You want to regulate it? Be my guest. Regulate the shit out of it. I’ll give you backdoors, side-doors, trace — whatever you want. Just don’t. Shut it. Down.
When facebook decdes to nullify your money... (Score:3, Insightful)
All it takes is for some "woke" freaks in the facebook empire to decide that your personal views or politics (or hair or skin color?) is "wrong" and not only will you be "de-platformed", but they'll just eliminate all your finances.
Yup, that's gonna be great...
This company has already demonstrated (repeatedly, and on the world stage) that it is completely untrustworthy and totally politically biased and now it wants to take over control of the currency from government. Any free person with a functional brain would stay as far away from FaceCoin as possible.
This sort of thing leads to a form of fascism that no 1930s scumbag could have ever dreamed of.
Facebook is a country ... (Score:2)
... all by itself. The meeting is a show. Like all world leaders, they dance with other world leaders. The goal is not to actually get anywhere.
The goal is to reiterate validity.
The country of Facebook has sent its ambassadors to the US for a photo-op.
ZuckerBucks!! are illegal currency (Score:1)
They are counterfeiting money.
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They are counterfeiting reality. Or they're trying to, and fewer people are buying it as time passes.
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