The fulcrum of the ikigai-FIRE pendulum is Bitcoin.

He doesn't just talk about inequality. He also says that the game is rigged; which I agree with.

An interesting point he makes is that the 'poor' work in isolation. I agree with this. I get the impression that Gary wants the 'poor' to unite politically (rather than focus on poverty at the individual level) and tax the rich more on fixed assets.

I think Bitcoin is a better tool of coordination ( intended individual greed morphed into unintended and additional altruism). However, it's hard to deny that you need to be quite affluent in the first place to build a big position in Bitcoin.

If I was a consultant for the Lizard People (London Division), this would be my dastardly proposal:

Orchestrate / facilitate / exaggerate a climate-related flood in London.

Make sure it's big (a catastrophic failure of the Thames Barrier), visual (well-known landmarks submerged in water) and expensive to recover from (hundreds of billions of pounds).

Instruct the governing party (Labour) and the opposition (Conservatives) to form a temporary emergency government of unity.

Pass an emergency budget to raise funds to rebuild the flooded parts of London. Emphasise that this is justified given the economic importance of London to the national economy.

A key part of the budget is a temporary land tax on all commercial and residential properties located in London e.g. 1% of the market value levied annually. Pass legislation enabling the Land Registry to block transfers of title if there is unpaid land tax against the relevant property.

Observe the level of protest and non-compliance against this new tax. If trivial, the Lizards can rejoice at yet another way to fleece and control the people. If significant, instruct a third political party (Reform) to make a manifesto commitment to repeal the tax if elected to power.

Prior to the election, disband the unity government to encourage electoral complexity and better maintain the illusion that voting makes a big difference.

After the election either make the temporary land tax permanent or repeal the tax but be ready to rinse and repeat this stratagem with suitable enhancements.

mWahahaha!!!!

nice share, ty.

<<RSS basically works like social media should work. Using RSS is a chance to visit a utopian future in which the platforms have no power, and all power is vested in publishers, who get to decide what to publish, and in readers, who have total control over what they read and how, without leaking any personal information through the simple act of reading.

And here's the best part: every time you use RSS, you bring that world closer into being! The collective action problem that the publishers and friends and politicians and businesses you care about is caused by the fact that everyone they want to reach is on a platform, so if they leave the platform, they'll lose that community. But the more people who use RSS to follow them, the less they'll depend on the platform.>>

Great writing!

<<I don't care who Satoshi was. I'm more interested in what Satoshi represented: an antidote to today's norm of clout chasing. The way society continues trying to unmask them goes to show just how foreign this approach is to us. We just can't comprehend that someone would build something so important out of just the kindness of their heart.>>

<<A compelling aspect of the Satoshi legend is its juxtaposition against the internet's progression. The introduction of bitcoin ran concurrent with the adoption of social media.>>

<<....In the end, it's not about you. All that remains is the work.

There's a ghost in the machine. I hope it stays that way.>>

From a (very) alternate timeline:

"The Federal Reserve has decided to maintain the current target interest rate at its current level. The primary reason is an ongoing concern at the federal's government's apparent complacency with regards to the burgeoning national debt. The Federal Reserve will be more willing to reduce rates when it sees concerted actions from the federal government to address this matter."

If this plays out soon, then interest rates may stay higher for longer >>>> is stagflation on its way?

It will be interesting to see how Bitcoin performs.

You may get sick of me, if I respond to your posts in low-grade poetry!

(Checks SN for the mute button!)

No, I made it up. Here's some more:

Working in the shadows, Satoshi soldiered on Crafting Bitcoin's code, then bringing others along Was he a cypherpunk? or an NSA guy gone rogue? Does it really matter? And why not both?

Once there was a ponzi Plain for all to see

Yet no one stepped forth to stop it So it poisoned, from land to sea

Many it impoverished But a few managed to line their purse

No one stepped forth to stop it So the ponzi got worse and worse

engagement is a good pathway to curation; if someone (on this site for example) says something useful you could respond and ask where they they learnt that insight from.

if you're in luck, they may point you to a useful resource.

if not, they may respond with that "I made it up" meme - but at least it will make you smile

I wonder what a better alternative is to censorship - from the state's perspective.

Some ideas:

censorship is a short-sighted move by governments, it brings more attention to whatever it is they are trying to hide

Step up Trump's strategic reserve plan from not just selling seized Bitcoin but also provide the Federal Reserve with a broadened mandate to acquire and hold Bitcoin akin to gold reserves.

Tax breaks for American data farms which meet a % threshold of power allocated for Bitcoin mining.

Tax breaks for Americans who hold Bitcoin e.g. no capital gains tax up to $100,000.

Favourable relations with other countries which remain pro-dollar and pro-Bitcoin.

Change incentives for finance institutions so buying spot bitcoin and selling on the futures market to pocket the difference becomes less attractive.

Thanks for the starter pack!

I've been using SN for a while already but wanted to 'spin-up' a new account^.

I still fondly remember the kind welcome from @siggy47 when I set up my first account. And who can forget their first well-intended (but still scary) force-choke powered rebuke from @DarthCoin for not taking sovereignty seriously enough.

^My reasoning:

I don't want to add too much emotional value to a single nym - just in case it gets compromised or I have a compelling reason to stop using it or the jokes about @k00b being a fed turn out to be true or some other reason I've not thought about.

I want to see how easy/hard it is to write in a different way per nym; different perspectives, writing style, deliberate typoz.