About those digitals

There’s a push to eliminate cash and go to a completely digital society. Your money would be a digital account in a central bank somewhere. China is far down that road. It’s so bad that if your social score is not high enough you can’t even shop in some stores. Europe isn’t far behind. 

In England there are grocery stores with gates as you come in. To enter you need to scan a QR code with your phone and show you have the right account. Europe in general is pushing full ahead with digital money. Their excuse is that it’ll be more convenient for the citizens.

They don’t mention how it will provide more control over the citizens. That’s very convenient for totalitarian dictators. 

While this is all going on there’s something else happening in the wider universe that’s more powerful than any government. The sun’s been cranking out CMEs. Nothing like huge burst of solar energy to take down power and digital systems. The more civilization relies on electronics the easier it becomes for even moderate CMEs to take down the system. 

-Sixbears

Wealth and holding onto it

Are cryptocurrencies doomed? Judging from this article in Technology Review, it doesn’t look good. One of the big features of cryptocurrencies was it’s supposed security. At the cure of the 1500 or so Bitcoin like currencies is the blockchain. They were advertised as being uncrackable. As it turns out, they aren’t as secure as once thought. Please read the article if you are into those currencies.

There are things I like about state free money. The very idea appeals that part of me that revels in living outside the system. For me one of the more interesting features was how easy it is to cross International borders and take your money with you. If you have to leave a repressive government in the middle of the night, that’s a good thing. However, at the very heart of cryptocurrencies are computers wasting resources and energy doing useless calculations. That’s my take on it. Feel free to disagree.

Traditionally, if your country was about to collapse, taking its currency with it, you’d convert as much of it as possible into something physical. Gold, silver and jewels are traditional. They have a lot of value for the space they take up. That makes it a bit easier to smuggle across borders.

Governments might say they are for free trade, but that ends when you want to freely trade your personal goods across a border. Border guards are trained to prevent exactly that sort of thing. Spoil sports.

When someone has a fair amount of wealth they like to hold onto it. Putting funds into real estate was usually a fair bet. Even that has limitations. For example, a Jew didn’t benefit from owning property in Nazi Germany. Politics can make property a liability. Most governments tax property. Unless it’s generation income from things like rents, it can be expensive to own. If you want to see real estate investing gone really bad just look at all the new empty cities in China build purely on speculation.

Unfortunately my investment situation is more along the line of buying another bag of dried peas and a box of .22 ammo. I don’t exactly have a lot of wealth to worry about. One less thing to deal with.

-Sixbears

Marijuana, Canada, and other places

Canada has legalized marijuana, the largest nation to do so. That should be interesting.

I'm located in New Hampshire, a state that has not legalized recreational pot. All around us, Canada, Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts have some form of legalization. I wonder how long it will be for New Hampshire to get on the bandwagon.

The state does have provisions for medical marijuana, but it's a pretty clunky system. Outlets are limited and doctors who take Federal money cannot recommend it. However, it has been decriminalized, so anyone caught with small amounts only face a relatively minor fine. Frankly, the cops I've talked to rather not deal with pot at all. Unless you are growing a field of it for sale, they'll mostly likely leave you alone.

That's handy for those who find medical relief from the weed. “Illegal” pot is cheaper and much easier to get that the regulated stuff -for now. However, you take your chances on quality.

Personally, I'm not going to start smoking pot. With the condition of my lungs I'm not going to smoke anything at all. However, I do know people who find medical relief from pot. It seems pretty silly that the Federal government is still telling people what they can and can't do in their personal life.

-Sixbears

Travel Freedom

We have gotten used to freedom of movement. There aren't a lot of places in the world were people can't go. Even if you never travel far, isn't it good to know that you can?

Most citizens of the United States do not have passports. That sounds terrible until you consider how far one can travel in the US. Driving across the US is like driving across Europe. Of course, European citizens have pretty open travel now between European Union members.

All passports are not equal. For example, travel with a US passport is a lot easier than travel with a passport from Iran. Right now I believe the German passport allows access to the most countries without a visa.

We may have reached the peak level for freedom of moment. There are signs that travel is getting more restricted all over the world.

When I was younger going from the US to Canada was no big deal. I barely had to stop the car when crossing the border. Back then a driver's license and copy of my birth certificate were enough documentation and they rarely asked to see them. Now passports are required.

Since the refugee crisis and Brexit, European governments are looking into making border crossings more difficult.

As more countries face difficulties, travel bans will increase. There are plenty of reasons to restrict travel. For example, right now Madagascar is suffering a particularly virulent outbreak of plague. That's a pretty valid reason to tighten restrictions. Borders have been closed to keep out various refugees, everything from those fleeing political upheaval, to economic conditions to climate refugees.

Recently I read a scary Science Fiction story where internal borders were set up in the United States. Regions were completely cut off from each other. Various excuses were given, but the idea was to reduce the population of the country. Picture something like the hurricanes that recently struck the US. Now imagine if the only aid available is what could be mobilized locally. Heavily populated areas with limited agricultural land were starving. Places with disease outbreaks received no aid from outside and descended into anarchy.

Reading that book caused me to look at border restrictions around the world with a more critical eye. Are the reasons, valid or is something sinister going on? Restricting travel out of plague area makes sense. Restriction of aid going into an area would be pretty sinister.

-Sixbears

Your Government’s Internet

Your Government’s Internet

The government doesn’t want to shut down the Internet. It does want to change it. Plenty of business takes place on the Internet. Big business wants that to continue. Governments listen to big business.

Expect some more controls on the Internet. Governments love control. That’s why they want an Internet kill switch. Being able to kill something is a powerful control. Another way to control something is to license it. Licenses do things that governments love: they gain information on who’s doing what, they get to collect fees, and they regulate what users can do.

No doubt it’ll be sold as a good thing. They’ll crack down on spam, viruses, porn, hate groups and their big favorite: terrorism. Haven’t we all heard stories about how children have been exploited. Terrorist use the Internet. Flash mobs have robbed and committed violence. The government can point to all kinds of abuses.

Yep, freedom is messy. While they are catching up all these bad things in their net, lots of others will get dragged in too: political opponents, alternative news sites that disagree with the main stream media, bloggers, preppers, survivalists, organic farmers -anyone not approved will be banned.

Governments are actively working toward stripping the Internet of anything that they perceive as a threat to the established order. It’s already happening. We see it most visibly in China, but the rest of the world won’t be far behind.

The Internet is a powerful tool for the little guy. He can get his information from a variety of sources, not just the approved outlets. It’s easy to communicate with others. It’s possible to share information about those who abuse power. Governments love to keep people in the dark. They are so much easier to control that way.

Keep an eye on how your government deals with the Internet. When they try to make it “safe” they really mean safe for them. We may have experienced the freest form of mass communication ever invented. Of course it’s under attack. Governments hate us for our freedom.

-Sixbears