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0 sats \ 18 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 24 Mar \ parent \ on: Replacing Cash With CBDC Would Pose A Grave Threat To Our Rights and Freedoms econ
The capital gains tax certainly captures traders but it also makes 'legal' MoE use of Bitcoin whether L1 or LN effectively impractical- it results in Bitcoin being effectively only practical to use as a SoV/speculative commodity- and not a MoE...and in achieving that outcome (which they largely have) they (the fiat operators- ie banks and governments) protect and preserve their precious fiat MoE hegemony.
Think of the importance of SWIFT as a US strategic lever ~ to understand the importance of MoE hegemony.
My admittedly limited understanding of LN is that it is centralised and as for the US exerting its jurisdiction over others there seems to be a variety of ways this has been and could be done - effectively most of the developed world is both militarily and monetarily subservient and tributary to the US.
Dude (and I apologize if you're not a dude I shouldn't assume)...
The US is doing absolutely everything it can, as fast as it can, to reduce its influence, dependence on, and relationships with all its traditional allies. The US is trying to make the rest of the world - developed or not - as distant from the United States as quickly as possible.
Everything else is "Europe's fault" or "Canada's fault" as to why the US isn't as prosperous as it used to be... and why China is growing faster economically than the United States.
My admittedly limited understanding of LN is that it is centralised
My understanding is that while it's not as decentralized as 'on-chain'... it is decentralized it's not just a big liquid or something. There are tons of apps, node implementations, open source node software, android implementations etc...
If the US controlled everything like it did 40 years ago... maybe the US could go door to door tracking down every lightning company, LSP, liquidity provider, node company, Lightning implementable, android repository etc...
But now? Now way. The Europeans will say 'screw you' 'none of your business' and the US is too politically chaotic and determined to tariff itself 'for freedom' to do anything constructive.
I wish this weren't the case, as the US in my opinion used to be a totally different country.
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Agree US is rapidly changing its stance toward the rest of the world but at the same time Trump is heavily leveraging upon the legacy of institutional and protocol dominance that the US has enjoyed for decades.
He is blatantly breaching FTAs and other international law in a way few other countries would dare to and that few are prepared to challenge but rather most cower to, although China and the EU are pushing back.
USA under Trump can do this because of its legacy dominance, and Trumps willingness to trash traditional/conventional expectations and assumptions.
The reserve currency status of the USD is perhaps the most important of these legacy strategic assets and levers by which to control and dominate.
IMO this is becauseTrump recognises the imminence of potentially losing several of these levers of empire- China is enabling trade payments for Russia and Iran- not just N.Korea.
With the Saudis joining the mBridge protocol which enables trade payments via Chinas CBDC Yuan the threat is now urgent and well advanced.
Trump is urgently seeking to buy time by using all the threats, bluff and shock tactics he can, and maybe he can buy some time...but it is a rearguard defensive action of a retreating empire seeking to preserve as much of its advantage as it can while the economic momentum is heavily in favour of the global trade leader- China.
USA still have the legacy advantage in the complex of post WW2 institutions of global monetary and trade governance- the World Bank, WTO, IMF, BIS, SWIFT...but China now dominates global trade and logically should, must and is increasing its own institutional and protocol structures. Chinas development bank now finances much more global infrastructure and development than the World Bank. Chinas military capacity is advancing rapidly across many fronts while the US still leads in many areas that lead is reducing across most.
Trade dominance goes hand in hand with Empire - military and monetary power projection.
It has since Roman times- since Jesus reportedly answered- 'whose image is this?'
Look at the alignment of monetary systems and military from Roman times to today.
The Five Eyes Network and the Western Banking Network.
They are the tertiary structures of empire.
China is reverse engineering them both and while Bitcoin does theoretically present a neutral and equitable alternative- its use as a MoE is obstructed heavily if subtly and slyly in the 'liberal' west and quite overtly and explicitly in the East.
Use of Bitcoin as a speculative commodity/SoV is of little threat to the nation state (KYCed and taxed it even brings some benefit) and the bankers monetary power, but use of Bitcoin for MoE, is.
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I don't think ultimately that it's 'the government' or 'the banks' really preventing Bitcoin as a MoE.
I mean their tax treatment of it doesn't help for sure.
But if people, even in the United States "The Empire" really wanted to use Bitcoin for Medium of Exchange they would just do it. I don't think Americans, a great great many of them would care about 'taxes' for daily payments, goods and services, daily expenses etc if they really wanted to use Bitcoin. I think they would just use it and... not care.
Supply follows demand and I never see 'Bitcoin accepted here' stickers advertised almost anywhere... despite supposedly 20% of Americans "owning Bitcoin" (I'm not sure I believe that number). I think that number is actually way way smaller and the number of people who 'use' Lightning a fraction of that even those "20%" Americans...
As far as Mr Trump's plan and US hegemony... I honestly don't believe Mr Trump is that smart.
I don't believe he has "a plan" except to pander to a domestic political base... and/or whatever he thinks they want based on what he sees on TV.
I don't believe Mr Trump has any idea what the BiS is or what it does... or the 'Five Eyes' or even the IMF anything like that. What the executive branch (white house) is doing I think he makes up... more or less on the spot there's no plan except 'what he feels' from day to day.
It's like the new "Gulf of America" renaming. How does that make the US military or economic situation any better? It's just marketing
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Most people want a convenient MoE.
While LN is now useable it still takes a conscious effort to use and there are very few places you can use it.
It has not taken a blatant ban to effectively prevent Bitcoin MoE from becoming any threat to fiats dominance.
Trump certainly knows how to pander to and please his base but the scope and range of his actions does align with a recognition that US imperialism is facing an existential challenge (from China) and that urgent and radical action is required.
His threat to BRICS nations (read Saudis in particular) that any move from them to use an alternative to USD/SWIFT trade payments would be met with a harsh response says a lot.
He knows Iran and Russia are selling oil to China using alternative Yuan denominated channels and if the Saudis or any other large oil exporters joins them the petrodollar is finished.
At that point USA is swiftly insolvent- its global hegemony is over.
China takes Taiwan ~ and resistance is futile.
Most in the west are in denial of how imminent global regime change could be.
But don't think Trump and those around him are.
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I don't think Trump knows anything...
Have you seen this? Does this guy look like someone who has a plan for US prosperity? Or anything else?
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Yes I hear where you are coming from - he is a master of obfuscation, distraction, and just pure showman baloney, but all the moves he is making on trade, tariffs and China do indicate he is aware of and responding to what is happening.
Whether his response will be seen as successful in retrospect I do not know, he might even be enabling others, but recognising a problem is a crucial part of the process toward addressing it.
Biden did not reverse any of Trumps previous tariffs on China and in fact advanced strategic repositioning of strategic manufacturing capacity ala Taiwan microchips to US mainland.