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Topic: Economic Totalitarianism - page 107. (Read 345738 times)

sr. member
Activity: 268
Merit: 256
July 14, 2015, 05:16:42 PM
@TPTBNW - I finally figured you out - you are an optimist!

Some background information re China:
Prof Steve Keen expects a crash in China within the next two years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKy6_yy3C3U
“This is the talk I gave at the FT/Alphaville conference in London, covering why we crashed in 2008"

I would have thought that Martin Armstrong, after what he has been
through, would have a better insight into our future. He seems to believe
that if socialism is eliminated all will be well. It looks to me that he
may need to take another look at the output from his models.

I'm watching these ripples working their way back towards where the stone
will hit the water circa 2020 at the very latest. I *think* the ripples are there
because TPTB are moving back to high ground and they don't have much time
to get things done.

I haven't worked out what this means for bitcoin, but I'll get there. 
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 14, 2015, 09:15:06 AM
This is the most interesting article I've read in a long time:

http://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Perspectives/How-China-renationalized-its-economy

State-corporate fascism via taxation. Welcome to Economic Totalitarianism in China. This is the model of the coming NWO.

Professor Michael Pettis's (China expert) response, and my counter-points:

Quote
Michael, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I admire so much your willingness to discuss openly in your blog. Two counter points without claiming you are "wrong", because I am not sure any of us have all the requisite data.

1. The article claimed or implied that SOEs were claiming higher net profits (at least after taxation).

2. Until we factor in the reversal in the "wealth effect" (Δmarket cap ≠ Δmonetary capital invested) due to bursting of debt and speculative bubbles, we can't account for what portion of the GDP is not real. The large capitalists can position their power and monetary wealth (two different forms of wealth) such that it sustains across such corrections. In other words, the masses can be running around like hamsters on a wheel, going effectively no where while the large capitalists siphon off all the power.
legendary
Activity: 3836
Merit: 4969
Doomed to see the future and unable to prevent it
July 14, 2015, 08:57:44 AM
Received the following information in email from the embassy in Manila. Freudian slip?

Quote
THE EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES IS TRANSMITTING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION THROUGH
THE EMBASSY WARDEN SYSTEM AS A PUBLIC SERVICE TO AMERICAN CITIZENS IN THE
PHILIPPINES. PLEASE DISSEMINATE THIS MESSAGE TO ALL U.S. CITIZENS IN YOUR
ORGANIZATION OR NEIGHBORHOOD.

war·den
ˈwôrd
noun
a person responsible for the supervision of a particular place or thing or for ensuring that regulations associated with it are obeyed.
"the warden of a local nature reserve"
NORTH AMERICAN
the head official in charge of a prison.

LOL
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 14, 2015, 08:54:30 AM
Received the following information in email from the embassy in Manila. Freudian slip?

Quote
THE EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES IS TRANSMITTING THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION THROUGH
THE EMBASSY WARDEN SYSTEM AS A PUBLIC SERVICE TO AMERICAN CITIZENS IN THE
PHILIPPINES. PLEASE DISSEMINATE THIS MESSAGE TO ALL U.S. CITIZENS IN YOUR
ORGANIZATION OR NEIGHBORHOOD.

war·den
ˈwôrd
noun
a person responsible for the supervision of a particular place or thing or for ensuring that regulations associated with it are obeyed.
"the warden of a local nature reserve"
NORTH AMERICAN
the head official in charge of a prison.


Those reading Armstrong's blog read the following already.

http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/archives/34287

Quote
Here are the new laws in Spain:

1. If you photograph security personnel and then share these images on social media: up to €30.000 fine (particularly if photo exposes violence used against a member of the public). This fine could increase depending on the number of Instagram or social media followers you have.

2. Tweet or retweet information or the “location of an organized protest” can now be interpreted as an act of terrorism as it incites others to “commit a crime” (now that “demonstrating” in many ways has become a crime). Sound “1984”-ish? Read about Orwell and his time in Spain.

3. Snowden-like whistle blowing is now defined as an act of terrorism. If you write for a local publication, be careful what you print, whom you speak to, and whether the government is listening.

4. Visiting or consulting terrorist websites – even for investigative purposes – can be interpreted as an act of terrorism. Make sure you use “Tor” browser, reject cookies, and don’t allow pop-ups. Not to mention, don’t post it on your Facebook timeline!

5. Be careful with the royal jokes! Any satirical comment against the royal family is a new crime “against the Crown”. For example, “What did Leticia and the Bishop have to say after they ––“ (SORRY CENSORED).

6. No more hassling elected members of the government or local authorities – even if they say one thing in order to be elected, but then go and do the exact opposite. Confronting them about this hypocritical behavior. Even if you see them in the street chatting to a street cleaner, dining at their favorite expensive restaurant, or having their shoes shined by that physics graduate who cannot find a decent job in the country, hassling them about their behavior is now a criminal offence.

7. Has your local river been so polluted by that plastic factory along the edge that all life has extinguished? Well, tough! Greenpeace or similar protests are now finable from €601–€30.000.

8. Protests in a spontaneous way outside Parliament are now illegal. For example if Parliament passes a hugely unpopular bill, or are debating something extremely important to you or your community, it is now finable from €601 – €30.000. Tip: Use Google Maps to protest just around the corner – but don’t tweet the location!

9. Obstructing an officer in the course of their business, “resisting arrest”, refusing to leave a demonstration when told, or getting in the way of a swinging baton are all now finable offences from €601 – €30.000.

10. Showing lack of respect to officers of the law is an immediate fine of €100 – €600. Answering back, asking a disrespectful question, making a funny face, showing your bottom to an officer of the law, or telling him/her that their breath reminds you of your dog’s underparts is now, sadly, not advisable.

11. Occupying, squatting, or refusing to leave an office, business, bank or other place until your complaint has been heard as a protest is now a €100 – €600 fine (no more flash mobs).

12. Digital protests: Writing something that could technically “disturb the peace” is a now a crime. Bloggers beware, for no one has yet defined whose peace you could be disturbing.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 13, 2015, 08:16:45 PM
Fatca is the seed planted by uncle Sam which will eventually develop into a global tax system, it builds the foundation for them to launch their NWO coin, to streamline tax collection and crush terrorism, tax evasion and underground activities which the masses will be begging for after the global economy melts down.

You sir are very astute and understand what is really going on.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 13, 2015, 08:12:59 PM
I think you need to read a bit more about i2p, its designed for more than just filesharing. its a darknet anonymous network, kind of like onionland but better. i2pbote is a great p2p serverless email network built on top of i2p with encrypted headers. I use it myself and integrated it into my darknet exchange. i2p eepsites support multihoming and easy to use router connection limits to help minimize the ddos issues with tor marketplaces.

saying that i2p wont protect you from the NSA is silly and oversimplifying things. The question to ask is "does i2p remove the link between altcoin spend signatures, blockchain data and address geodata from the clients true IP" the answer is yes it does. Im not sure how to reassure you that i2p is immune to the NSA, but good luck demasking the IP of an anoncoin i2ponly client.

I will respond to your naive ignorance in a detailed white paper. You need to read more and comprehend more technical information than you apparently do. I don't have time to deal with you in a non-technical discussion in a forum. Those who trust my knowledge will understand you are wrong.
legendary
Activity: 1050
Merit: 1001
July 13, 2015, 06:34:21 PM
http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/01/u-s-vs-china-tax-system/

http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2014/06/30/china-agrees-fatca-compliance.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2015/01/13/chinas-fiscal-roadmap-tax-like-america/

Fatca is the seed planted by uncle Sam which will eventually develop into a global tax system, it builds the foundation for them to launch their NWO coin, to streamline tax collection and crush terrorism, tax evasion and underground activities which the masses will be begging for after the global economy melts down.
hero member
Activity: 700
Merit: 508
July 13, 2015, 04:40:06 PM

Electromagnetic shielding around your computer can defeat this.

If the NSA has determined your location, you are already probably toast.

They key about IP obfuscation anonymity mixing is the NSA not knowing who is doing what.

I plan to be retired by the time the NSA starts trailing me. My essential work will be done over the next several months, then turned over to other devs to carry on. I need to make sure ALL of those other devs can not be identified.

As for future-proofing, then wider keys such as 512-bit ECC and super singular isogenies against quantum computing can be considered.

No we don't have to give up. There won't be any place on earth to emmigrate to. This totalitarianism is global this time. You have 3 axis powers pretending to be antagonists who are really working together to enslave the people, and between them their militaries can reach any corner of the globe. China has a huge standing army to deploy to South America, Africa, etc.. They will hunt you down.

lol
hero member
Activity: 700
Merit: 508
July 13, 2015, 04:22:10 PM
Someone please post a link to this post over in the Monero thread so they can come over here to address it. I don't want to shit on their thread. I am not criticizing Monero per se. I am technically criticizing I2P when deployed against a high-powered adversary such as the NSA. I am disappointed in whom ever made this decision for marketing reasons (apparently) without sufficient engineering investigation.

I2P (which is relied on by Monero to insure your anonymity) has updated their detailed summary of potential attacks. That looks really bad (as I had expected). I wouldn't trust for that for obfuscating who sent a message to whom in the face of a powerful adversary and neither do they:

https://geti2p.net/en/comparison/other-networks

Quote
Mixminion and Mixmaster are networks to support anonymous email against a very powerful adversary. High-latency messaging applications running on top of I2P (for example Syndie or I2PBote) may perhaps prove adequate to meet the threat model of those adversaries, while running in parallel along side the needs of low latency users, to provide a significantly larger anonymity set. High-latency support within the I2P router itself may or may not be added in a distant future release. It is too early to say if I2P will meet the needs of users requiring extreme protection for email.

What they are really saying at the above quote is that the underlying I2P network is low-latency hogwash that can't protect against a high-latency adversary and that if someone builds a high-latency system (whether they run it on I2P or not is irrelevant), then you may be protected. Well duh! I2P isn't high-latency mixing and doesn't protect you. I doubt I2PBote does either. I am studying I2PBote and once again the design is not fully documented. I2PBote appears to store messages in a DHT and uses optionally high-latency relaying to provide the anonymity, but absolutely no details are given and the relaying may not even be sufficiently implemented or utilized (too small of mix set) to be of any use.

I2P was designed by the folks who did P2P file sharing apps. They did not design I2P to be anonymous to powerful adversaries, rather they designed it to be a performant, low-level network layer for basic privacy.

Stay away! Don't trust I2P for that threat model!

Thus Monero is not yet anonymous against a high-powered adversary (such as the NSA) unless you use a connection to the internet that can not be correlated to you nor to any activity you do from that connection (e.g. Google's cookie in your browser, logging into any website, etc). This is because if an identity is attached to a sent transaction (via the lack of IP address obfuscation), then it is known that identity is associated with the sender of that transaction, regardless of the ring signature mixing on chain.

Most users have no clue what they are doing and will not likely be anonymous against a high-powered adversary in Monero even if they think they are using an unregistered connection to the internet. And if widely the case, then this can cascade into reduced anonymity sets for everyone thus even destroying the anonymity for those who were careful enough.

You see this shit is very complex and it can't be done with such nonchalant attitude. It requires serious technical documentation and analysis.

I am not angry at any one per se; we are running out time and we should be working together to solve the problem instead of playing marketing battles here. We need to stop attacking each other. I am not attacking Monero. I am just stating technical facts.

You know they added I2P because I mentioned last year in a forum there where smooth et al were present or lurking that IP address wasn't obfuscated. I think fluffypony picked up on my criticism and pushed for adding it, but I am not really sure who did. Ever since then, I've been telling smooth that I2P is not sufficient against a high-powered adversary. It is one year hence and we still haven't solved the problem.

As AnonyMint I was the guy in the Anoncoin thread in 2013 (as kLee can attest) making the point their I2P integration lacked high-latency protection against timing attacks. Now 2 years later we are still in the same predicament.

Look I am just one guy. You can't expect me to do the work that requires dozens and dozens of highly skilled programmers working for years. I can only do so much. I am working 100+ hours a week and doing my best. I will try to fix all this shit but I won't be able to do it alone.

P.S. what got me off on this tangent was searching for a better alternative to Bitmessage, but unfortunately I think maybe there is none when obfuscating the link between sender and recipient. In terms of encrypting messages so only sender and recipient can read (and not concerned about linking the identities of sender and recipient), then I2PBote looks better than Bitmessage because it has a 512-bit ECC encryption option (thus maybe providing a few more years of historical protection, perhaps even against early, less powerful quantum computers that may come) and better usability features.

To demonstrate how naive users are, I had asked a programmer for his Bitmessage address and he told me bitmsg.me! Cross that guy off the list for potential employment. He doesn't even understand how using a website would eliminate the entire point of using Bitmessage in the first place (unless of course that website is using client-side Javascript encryption and receiving all network messages from the server and attempting to decrypt them client-side and not relying on the server hosting bitmsg.me to do that instead, which may be the case but I doubt it).


Edit: I am reading I2P's technical documentation. They are talking about maybe implementing some high-latency delays for version 3.0 (they aren't even at version 1 yet since starting in 2003), and worse is they plan to let the sender set the delays at each hop of the garlic layer! I guess they don't realize that this will allow a high-powered, omniscient attacker to flood inbound tunnels with specifically timed delays so they can unmask the tunnel! These I2P devs should not be trusted about anonymity.

I think you need to read a bit more about i2p, its designed for more than just filesharing. its a darknet anonymous network, kind of like onionland but better. i2pbote is a great p2p serverless email network built on top of i2p with encrypted headers. I use it myself and integrated it into my darknet exchange. i2p eepsites support multihoming and easy to use router connection limits to help minimize the ddos issues with tor marketplaces.

saying that i2p wont protect you from the NSA is silly and oversimplifying things. The question to ask is "does i2p remove the link between altcoin spend signatures, blockchain data and address geodata from the clients true IP" the answer is yes it does. Im not sure how to reassure you that i2p is immune to the NSA, but good luck demasking the IP of an anoncoin i2ponly client.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 12, 2015, 07:09:17 PM
OROBTC, please document your boating trip with receipts and also show where you filed the "lost gun" report on time, otherwise you will be charged with a crime (a recent ex post facto law under emergency terrorism powers granted to the President by the bought congress and kangaroo courts) and housed in this prison which we can't really maintain with food, otherwise known as a concentration camp.

Your family members are associated with terrorism and you are being taken into custody on suspicion of aiding and abetting terrorism. You have no right to an attorney.

Edit: my point is you need to be as invisible as possible to the State (as it can overpower you) and your male community needs to be as strong as possible against marauding nutcases. If you depend only on the State for the latter, then well you end up dead if the State can't maintain law & order (or the State itself goes F.U.B.A.R.).

Edit#2: I suggest another narrative. I long ago sold my registered guns and some of my traceable precious metals, and here is the paperwork to prove it. I paid all my taxes. The remaining precious metals are stored here and here is the paperwork. As for the precious metals I sold, I used the funds to manage daily expenses which I paid in cash as evident by my cash withdrawals from ATMs over this time. I lived a fairly high life during the recent years (and if the State already knows where you live, I say also some diversifications into land and improvements on the land). No I didn't covertly obtain precious metals nor cryptocurrencies with that cash by purchasing mining equipment with the cash. I believed in documented precious metals instead.

Edit#3: very careful with entrusting secrets to "friends" who can turn against you when they need to survive.

Edit#4: my overriding point is that traditional forms of diversification could be entirely useless if what we face in the future is a 309 year cycle event. Smooth this point is also directed to you. I guess CoinCube also.
legendary
Activity: 2912
Merit: 1852
July 12, 2015, 07:01:41 PM
...

TPTB

Where did you get that picture of my family?  Calling them nutcases, you have the nerve...

My family is much better prepared than I am, as you can see.  Alas, in my case, my guns (ammo too) were lost in a boating accident, why a year ago IIRC.  Rather than get the police all riled up about guns out there at the bottom of the sea, I thought I would just let them corrode away.  Most unfortunate.

Oh, I lost all my precious metals on the same boat-ride.  And everyone told me that it was so much better to take all that stuff with me rather than leave it all behind in some dark place at home.  How naive.  Now I have to start over.


EDIT: My Bitcoins too.  After all, carrying all that weight of firearms and PMs, it just seemed natural to take along my hardware wallets too.  Live and learn.


EDIT 2: There is a guy I know in another state who can help me re that unregistered business.......
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 12, 2015, 06:23:44 PM
OROBTC, I am changing my opinion on the value of UNREGISTERED guns (all registered guns will be seized by the government), but only if concomitant with a community of armed men for defense (not all alone which is certain to be overrun):

I estimate 60 - 80% probability of radical global chaos coming and persisting for the remainder of my life, beginning roughly in 2018 in earnest and worsening again after 2024. I don't think it will be absolute loss of governance and society every where. But it is very difficult to predict all of the ramifications and situations are likely to be very fluid and changing, so any one regional advantage could at some point turn against you.

The best advice I have is try to move before the SHTF to a warmer area that is either too wet (thus some drying trend won't cause total drought) or a more rarely a warmer area that is too dry that might experience an increase in precipitation due to changes in prevailing winds or something. I don't have the data on which areas were best in the last Little Ice Age. Can any one dig up this data?

And then you need to make a decision whether you trust society in that area to remain civilized; if yes then go for populated areas and depend on community. If not and you can afford it, then maybe go for your own ranch heavily defended by sturdy male family (or perhaps robots will be available soon to employ as a defensive army).

Seems right now one of the most productive activities we men could do is start to acquaint ourselves with each other and making compacts to be neighbors and bond together to be able to provide the economy-of-scale to have a small rural community defense and diversification of food production and trading.

Photo of some of the nutcases we will be up against:



that's the question. It seems impossible for this to happen. I can buy a pound of rolled oats for 30 cents, you could quadruble the costs and life would go on*.

You apparently lack appreciation of the significance of both marginal prices in economics, and also the non-linear effects of chaos.

1. With marginal prices in Economics 101...

2. When the population has become dependent on high economies-of-scale in farming, distribution, credit, government, corporations, etc., and that is taken away by mother nature and or widespread war/pestilence..
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 12, 2015, 11:37:10 AM

Robert Trujillo band member of Metallica since 2003 and I both attended Culver City High School and graduated in 1983. You can ask him about my wild parties in high school on Dobson Way. I did happenstance on at least one Metallica head banger concert in a small venue in the San Fernando valley in the 1980s (as best as I remember, although I was probably very drunk), although I don't think Trujillo was affiliated with the band at that time. Good times. Hope to do it again soon  Grin
legendary
Activity: 3836
Merit: 4969
Doomed to see the future and unable to prevent it
July 12, 2015, 10:54:52 AM
Nothing is safe forever, ever.

This is moving along quickly.

http://www.tau.ac.il/~tromer/radioexp/

Electromagnetic shielding around your computer can defeat this.

I guess portable faraday cage's have a market. Smiley

No we don't have to give up. There won't be any place on earth to emmigrate to. This totalitarianism is global this time. You have 3 axis powers pretending to be antagonists who are really working together to enslave the people, and between them their militaries can reach any corner of the globe. China has a huge standing army to deploy to South America, Africa, etc.. They will hunt you down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8MO7fkZc5o
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 12, 2015, 09:58:57 AM
This is the most interesting article I've read in a long time:

http://asia.nikkei.com/Viewpoints/Perspectives/How-China-renationalized-its-economy

State-corporate fascism via taxation. Welcome to Economic Totalitarianism in China. This is the model of the coming NWO.
legendary
Activity: 1750
Merit: 1036
Facts are more efficient than fud
July 12, 2015, 04:59:01 AM
That's why I recommend that people should use mixers.

You should stop recommending that. Joinmarket, shapeshift, and xmr.to are your current best bets, but even then, you aren't immune later entanglements and still have to be on watch that your IP isn't being monitored--check the last two pages of this thread for more info. Even better start on page one and come out the other side extra-paranoid/extra-knowledgeable/extra-wtf.


Give me 6 weeks to produce an alpha-stage product and a white paper, if I decide to proceed on improving the anonymity network as the first priority (which looks to be the likely decision as it helps everyone and is less confrontational than creating an altcoin first).


 
Wish you could say more, but I'll kick rocks for awhile and keep myself busy....

sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 262
July 12, 2015, 04:20:13 AM
I'm also pretty sure that merely improving a mixnet won't make something NSA proof either. The threat model is much wider than that.

Yes there are many possible vulnerabilities. I've been thinking about these for 2 years. I am a "can do" person. Now less words, and more "do".


I would like to read their response and how you plan to improve the functionality as this is a huge opportunity to improve financial privacy.

Give me 6 weeks to produce an alpha-stage product and a white paper, if I decide to proceed on improving the anonymity network as the first priority (which looks to be the likely decision as it helps everyone and is less confrontational than creating an altcoin first).


Nothing is safe forever, ever.

This is moving along quickly.

http://www.tau.ac.il/~tromer/radioexp/

Electromagnetic shielding around your computer can defeat this.

If the NSA has determined your location, you are already probably toast.

They key about IP obfuscation anonymity mixing is the NSA not knowing who is doing what.

I plan to be retired by the time the NSA starts trailing me. My essential work will be done over the next several months, then turned over to other devs to carry on. I need to make sure ALL of those other devs can not be identified.

As for future-proofing, then wider keys such as 512-bit ECC and super singular isogenies against quantum computing can be considered.


Theoretically mixmaster should provide good enough anonymity if
used with pgp. Most Linux based mailers eg Mutt, include hooks to
process both pgp and transmit via mixmaster.

For Mixmaster to be effctive, messages (encrypted) are passed though
several mailhosts and eventually delivered (encrypted) anonymously
to the recipient.

Regrettably, any encrypted message or any posts to remailers are
going to be like walking around with a ladder on your shoulder in
a thunderstorm.

If things are really that bad, emigration might be the best option.

Is mixmaster even a reality? I can't find any info about a network of servers offering that functionality.

Mixmaster is not a properly designed solution. Period. I will not explain the white paper now. Wait for it.

No we don't have to give up. There won't be any place on earth to emmigrate to. This totalitarianism is global this time. You have 3 axis powers pretending to be antagonists who are really working together to enslave the people, and between them their militaries can reach any corner of the globe. China has a huge standing army to deploy to South America, Africa, etc.. They will hunt you down.
sr. member
Activity: 430
Merit: 250
Agent of Chaos
July 12, 2015, 02:54:28 AM
UK to Ban WhatsApp Messaging Service

The UK is ready to ban WhatsApp thanks to the Investigatory Powers Bill, also known as “Snoopers Charter”. This new act will allow the government to ban instant messaging apps that refuse to remove end-to-end encryption. The British want to peek at what everyone is doing for taxes. They already have signs all over stating they are hunting tax evaders.



This is why governments don't like bitcoins, they want everyone to hold the opinion that "privacy doesn't matter when you have nothing to hide." But the reality is that if, for example, I chat to someone who is a known political activist strongly critical of some government. Due to the government's surveillance and social media, it can be supposed that my assosiation with this person becomes easily determinable by entering a few keystrokes. I have done nothing wrong, I could have just been talking about the wheather, and yet I think my chances for employment may have just decreased and my chances of an unpleasant encounter next time I interact with the police or border guards may have just increased.
Furthermore, an even more likely scenario is that, knowing that were I to go to talk to this person, I would be making it known to all the government agencies that are reading the messages, I am less likely to do it. The fact that I am being watched has just served to stifle dissent. I didn't do anything wrong - shit, I didn't do anything at all in fact, and yet I had something to hide.

Although, bitcoin in and of itself is not anonymous, every transaction can be traced back to an address and is public. That's why I recommend that people should use mixers.
legendary
Activity: 1498
Merit: 1000
July 12, 2015, 12:55:20 AM


As AnonyMint I was the guy in the Anoncoin thread in 2013 (as kLee can attest) making the point their I2P integration lacked high-latency protection against timing attacks. Now 2 years later we are still in the same predicament.


I can confirm this!
legendary
Activity: 3836
Merit: 4969
Doomed to see the future and unable to prevent it
July 11, 2015, 09:10:11 PM
Nothing is safe forever, ever.

This is moving along quickly.

http://www.tau.ac.il/~tromer/radioexp/
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