Phil,
Could you set us up for bitcoin donations at the Seasteading,-GGLR-Drake's Bay Oyster Farm booth at the New Living Expo?
John
________________________________
From: "philzberg@..." <philzberg@...>
To: lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2013 11:24 AM
Subject: [lpsf-discuss] Fwd: Bitcoin for Beginners, Part IISent from my iPhone
From: "Laissez Faire Today" <lftoday@...>
Date: April 4, 2013, 10:43:20 AM PDT
To: philzberg@...
Subject: Bitcoin for Beginners, Part IIUntitled Document
If you are having trouble viewing this email please try our web version.
LFB SITE BROWSE ARCHIVES WHITELIST UNSUBSCRIBE
April 4, 2013Bitcoin for Beginners, Part II
[Ed. Note: Picking up from yesterday's article, Jeffrey continues where he left off. Having already given a brief background on how the cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin originated, he tells how he personally got involved. Like most people, he knew very little going in, but that didn't stop him.
As he would say, "It's one thing to read about Bitcoin and develop intense opinions about it. But there is nothing like ownership itself. That changes everything."
Read more about his journey and learn about the first thing you'll need before you buy any bitcoins on your own.]
Dear Laissez Faire Today Reader,Jeffrey Tucker
In March, I was at a conference in New Hampshire when a few Bitcoin businessmen sat me down to lunch. It seems like the last thing one wants, a long lunch at which one is hammered by unrelenting geek-speak about the glories of some crazy software thing.
It turned out very differently. A developer suggested that I download a smartphone application called Blockchain. I did this. He then took at an image of my QR code -- that funny square design that looks like a 3-D bar code. It looks like this:
Within a few seconds, I was the proud owner of my first Bitcoin. I felt the rush. Ownership changes everything.
My wallet lived on my smartphone. Only three years ago, some wonderful applications had already developed around the currency unit. Although I'm a bit of a "techy", I'm not a rocket scientist, and I'm quite certain that I would have been out of my league.
The Drill Bits Are Turning... Right Now!
Right now there's a "do or die" oil operation going on 7,267 miles away from Wall Street -- and nowhere near Saudi Arabia.The company involved stands to send its less-than-$1 share price through the roof if it succeeds in tapping into the estimated 7.4 billion barrels of oil under the ocean floor.
Word is bound to get out any day now... and the potential to make the "easy money" will go out the window.
Click here to learn all of the details on this company and what could be the last oil frontier.
But this is how digital institutions develop to become ever more user-friendly. At the same event at which I became a Bitcoin owner, I also used a Bitcoin ATM. I put in the green stuff, held my digital wallet up to the scanner, and then felt the buzz on my smartphone. Physical became digital. Beautiful.But still I wondered what exactly I could do with these things. That's when the consumer world of Bitcoin products appeared before me. We aren't just talking about Silk Road -- a website that became notorious for enabling the easy, anonymous buying and selling of drugs. There are Bitcoin stores everywhere. And there are services through which you can buy from any website with a Bitcoin interface. There was even talk of Bitcoin futures markets. Some companies were rumored to be going public with Bitcoins, thereby bypassing the whole of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The implications are mind-blowing.
Sacred Pliers
Still, I'm a tactile kind of guy. I need to experience things. So I went to one of these sites. I brought the first product I saw (why, I do not know). It was a pair of pliers for crimping electric cables. I put in my shipping address and up came a note that said it was time to pay. This is the moment I had been waiting for. A QR code popped up on-screen. I held up my "wallet" and scanned. In less than two seconds, the deed was done. It was easier than Amazon's one-click ordering system.
My heart raced. I jumped out of my chair and did a quick song and dance around the room. Somehow, I had seen it thoroughly for the first time: This is the future.The pliers arrived two days later, and even though I have no use for them, I still treasure them.
Bitcoin had already taken off when the surprising Cyprus crisis hit. The government was talking about seizing bank deposits as a way of bailing out the whole system. During this period, Bitcoin essentially doubled in value. Press reports said that people were pulling out government currency and converting it, not only in Cyprus, but also in Spain, Italy, and elsewhere. The price of Bitcoin in terms of dollars soared.
Another way to put this: The prices of goods and services in terms of Bitcoin were going down. Yes, this is the much-dreaded system that mainstream economists decry as "deflation." The famed Keynesian Paul Krugman has even gone so far as to say that the worst thing about Bitcoin is that people hoard them, instead of spending them, thereby replicating the feature of the gold standard that he hates the most! He might as well have given a ringing endorsement as far as I'm concerned.Obsession and Resentment
My own experience with Bitcoin during this time intensified. I began to call friends on Skype and scan their QR codes and trade currencies. I began to rope other people into the obsession based on my experience: You have to own to believe. After one full day of buying, selling, and using Bitcoins, I had the strange experience of resenting that I had to pay a cab fare in plain old U.S. dollars.
How can you obtain Bitcoins? This can be a bit tricky, but you have choices. You can go to localbitcoins.com and find a local person to meet you to trade cash for Bitcoins. Usually, this takes place at high premiums, anywhere from 10-50%, depending on how competitive the local market is. It is understandable why people are reluctant to do this, no matter how safe it is. There is just something that seems sketchy about meeting a stranger in an all-night cafe to do some strange digital currency exchange.
A more conventional route is to go to one of many online sellers, link up your bank account, and buy. [Ed Note: We'll show you the best ways to do this, here.]
This process can take a few days. And then when you set out to transfer the funds, you might be surprised at the limits in the market that exist these days. Sites are rationing Bitcoin selling based on availability. It could take 10 days or more to go from nonowner to real owner. But once you have them, you are off to the races. Sending and receiving money has never been easier.Doubts?
As of this writing, a Bitcoin is trading for $139. Just three years ago, it hovered at 0.14 cents. Many people look at the current market and think that surely this is a speculative bubble. That could be true, but it might not be. People are exchanging an unstable, fiat paper for something with a real title that cannot be duplicated. Everyone knows precisely how many Bitcoins exist at any time. Anyone can observe the transactions taking place in real-time. Its price can go up and down, and that's fine, but there is no real speculation going on here endogenous to the Bitcoin market itself.
Is it a pyramid scheme? The defining mark of a pyramid scheme is that more than one person has an equal claim on the same money or good. This is physically impossible with Bitcoin. The program is set up as a strict property rights regime with no exceptions. In fact, in early March, there was a brief hiccup in the system when some new coins were approved by one group of developers but not by another. A "fork" appeared in the system. The price began to fall. Developers worked fast to resolve the dispute, and eventually the system -- and the price -- returned to normal. This is the advantage of the "open source system."
But what about the vague sense some people have that a handful of coders cannot on their own cause a new currency to come into existence? Well, if you look back at what Austrian monetary theorist Carl Menger says, this is precisely how gold became money. It was not at first used by everyone. Every new currency is at first used only "by the most discerning and most capable economizing individuals." Their successful behaviors are then emulated by others. In other words, the emergence of money involves entrepreneurship -- that is, being alert to opportunities to discover and provide something new.
The single biggest problem with Bitcoins right now is getting them. The exchanges are overloaded. They can't sell them fast enough. The virtual Bitcoin trading floors of these exchanges are full and it's becoming increasingly difficult to make a deal.
This is all part of the pangs of growing, but it can be extremely frustrating for users. What we need are more ATMs that are hooked directly into exchanges. When those come online, crazy things could start happening. We could be looking at the global unraveling of all government paper.Leviathan Leers
But what about a government crackdown? No doubt that attempt will be made. Already, government agencies are expressing some degree of annoyance at what could be. But governments haven't been able to control the cash economy. It would be infinitely more difficult to do this with a virtual currency with no central bank, with encryption, with millions of users per day. Controlling that would be unthinkable.
There was a time when the idea that e-books would replace physical books was absurd. When I first took a look at the early generation of e-readers, I laughed and scoffed. It will never happen. Now I find myself looking for a home for my physical books and loading up on e-books by the hundreds. Such is the way markets surprise us. Technology without central planners makes dreams come true.
It's possible that Bitcoin will flop. Maybe it is just the first generation. Maybe thousands of people will lose their shirts in this first go-round. But is the digitization of money coming? Absolutely. Will there always be skeptics out there? Absolutely. But in this case, they are not in charge. Markets will do what they do, building the future whether we approve or understand it fully or not. The future will not be stopped.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Tucker
A version of this article appeared inThe Freeman.
P.S. April 25, 2013.
That's the day we'll release our Bitcoin report. We're calling it The Bitcoin Bible: The Safest and Easiest Ways to Buy, Sell, Store and Speculate.
If you're an existing club member, you don't need to do anything but mark your calendar. You'll automatically get the report free as part of your membership.
If you've not joined our club yet, you can go here to join. When you do we'll set aside a copy of The Bitcoin Bible for you, right away.
Bet Against Big Pharma
Twenty years ago, Big Pharma put all their eggs in one
basket - a basket that ended in failure...
Now, a group of pioneering scientists stand ready to usher
in the next big medical breakthrough.
Learn more about their groundbreaking discovery...
Learn More Today!Club Chatter
"Mayor Bloomberg is doing great," writes Club member, Robert R., "representing the will of New Yorkers. Do you doubt his focus groups and test polling? Naturally, he is trammeling the rights of individuals, but that is what busybodies always do. And in the boiler house that is NYC, who can be surprised when democracy crushes rights?"
LFT: Not sure if that was satirical or serious...
He continues, "Whether the midsize soda ban is legal is a question of New York law -- what guarantees are in the New York state constitution, and what powers has Albany delegated to subunits. I'd guess 'slim' and 'everything,' but it looks like he has pushed too far, still without penalty. All of Washington swears to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution, and then immediately cut it as close as they dare or actually violate it with impunity.
LFT: Ah, I must have missed the tongue-in-cheekiness of the first comment.
But then he adds, "The United States was always supposed to be a series of competing governments, states, and cities. The competition in laws and taxes was expected to lead to their improvement. But busybodies undercut the process by creeping federal powers. Rock on, Bloomberg! If nothing else, you're a great example to avoid."
LFT: Or did I...
And he concludes, "Morons!"
LFT: Touche. I just hope that last comment was directed toward Bloomberg and not to us here at LFB.
Club member Gordon C. adds to the ongoing discussion about Bloomberg and his war against sugary beverages, writing in to say, "The best way for allowing citizens to self-police their activities (smoking, drinking sugary drinks, eating too much fast food) would be to allow insurance companies the option to charge surcharges that would promote healthy choices... Life insurance policies account for smokers, so why can't health insurance companies place a surcharge for the unhealthy choices we make? Let the free market system work and people will find a way to reduce the cost, as they have done for every other transaction they make... Get the government out of the way and we all prosper."
LFT: No argument here. Most of our elected officials don't understand how insurance works, let alone insurance markets, so it's not surprising that their solutions to the "problem" usually cause even more problems down the road.
Finally, Jack D. has one more response to soda ban supporter,Edmund S., writing, "I don't agree... that tobacco usage was reduced primarily because of laws. Most people that I know, including myself, stopped smoking when all of the health hazards became well publicized.
"What interests me now are the new electronic cigarettes. They supply only the nicotine without the other harmful components in cigarettes... They may not be a good way to quit smoking, but they are becoming popular, because they allow a person to smoke in most bars and restaurants. You can buy the cartridges in different flavors and nicotine levels. What I am expecting in the near future are cartridges that contain THC instead of nicotine. With one of these, a person could smoke in a bar without any marijuana odor. Where medical marijuana is legal, perhaps the advertising would even be legal. After that, we might see cartridges containing opium or any other drug that is usually burned."
LFT: One can only hope...
Thank you for reading Laissez Faire Today. We greatly value your questions and comments. Click here to send us feedback.Follow us on:
To end your Laissez Faire Today e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Laissez Faire Today, cancel your free subscription.
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2013 Agora Financial, LLC. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the World Wide Web), in whole or in part, is encouraged provided the attribution Agora Financial is preserved. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized investment advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication b
y our employees to you should be deemed as personalized investment advice. We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security recommended to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of a printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.
Hello John!
Sorry I missed your call yesterday (I'm in a training class all week). I dropped some Federal Reserve Notes in the Drake's Bay Oyster Farm donation jar at the LPC Convention in Sacramento last weekend, and would be happy to help set up a bitcoin donation button on any website. The problem these days is that so many people are desperate to buy bitcoins, they may not be so willing to give them away. I'd be happy to donate some to Drake's Bay Oyster Farm. As you may know, I already pledge monthly to the Seasteading Institute).
I'll call back you this evening when I get home.
Terry Floyd
Terry,
Excellent! Do you know who was collecting donations? We want to do the same thing at the new Living Expo.
Dr. Corey Goodman is the scientific "heavy artillery" for the oyster farm. I spoke with him this morning. As a result of being on the side of the right science, he has found himself the target of the wrong politics, including the Sierra Club;
but in a stunning twist, on the right side of Dianne Feinstein, breaking ranks with the bureaucrats and Senator Boxer.
He has 5 years in the political trenches on this issue, and is indispensable in the formation of our strategies. We need to
bring in the reinforcements, in such a way as to align as much support as possible, across the political spectrum, even to the point of the Sierra Club, breaking ranks with the enviro-bureaucratic axis on this issue, if possible.
I confident you know what I'm talking about.
John
707-623-6005
________________________________
From: "tlfloyd3@..." <tlfloyd3@...>
To: lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 9, 2013 6:47 AM
Subject: Re: [lpsf-discuss] Fwd: Bitcoin for Beginners, Part IIHello John!
Sorry I missed your call yesterday (I'm in a training class all week). I dropped some Federal Reserve Notes in the Drake's Bay Oyster Farm donation jar at the LPC Convention in Sacramento last weekend, and would be happy to help set up a bitcoin donation button on any website. The problem these days is that so many people are desperate to buy bitcoins, they may not be so willing to give them away. I'd be happy to donate some to Drake's Bay Oyster Farm. As you may know, I already pledge monthly to the Seasteading Institute).
I'll call back you this evening when I get home.
Terry Floyd
________________________________
From: "John Bechtol" <javlin@...>
To: lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2013 1:39:20 PM
Subject: Re: [lpsf-discuss] Fwd: Bitcoin for Beginners, Part IIPhil,
Could you set us up for bitcoin donations at the Seasteading,-GGLR-Drake's Bay Oyster Farm booth at the New Living Expo?
John________________________________
From: "philzberg@..." <philzberg@...>
To: lpsf-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2013 11:24 AM
Subject: [lpsf-discuss] Fwd: Bitcoin for Beginners, Part IISent from my iPhone
From: "Laissez Faire Today" <lftoday@lfb.org>
Date: April 4, 2013, 10:43:20 AM PDT
To: philzberg@...
Subject: Bitcoin for Beginners, Part IIUntitled Document
If you are having trouble viewing this email please try our web version.
LFB SITE BROWSE ARCHIVES WHITELIST UNSUBSCRIBE
April 4, 2013Bitcoin for Beginners, Part II
[Ed. Note: Picking up from yesterday's article, Jeffrey continues where he left off. Having already given a brief background on how the cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin originated, he tells how he personally got involved. Like most people, he knew very little going in, but that didn't stop him.
As he would say, "It's one thing to read about Bitcoin and develop intense opinions about it. But there is nothing like ownership itself. That changes everything."
Read more about his journey and learn about the first thing you'll need before you buy any bitcoins on your own.]
Dear Laissez Faire Today Reader,Jeffrey Tucker
In March, I was at a conference in New Hampshire when a few Bitcoin businessmen sat me down to lunch. It seems like the last thing one wants, a long lunch at which one is hammered by unrelenting geek-speak about the glories of some crazy software thing.
It turned out very differently. A developer suggested that I download a smartphone application called Blockchain. I did this. He then took at an image of my QR code -- that funny square design that looks like a 3-D bar code. It looks like this:
Within a few seconds, I was the proud owner of my first Bitcoin. I felt the rush. Ownership changes everything.
My wallet lived on my smartphone. Only three years ago, some wonderful applications had already developed around the currency unit. Although I'm a bit of a "techy", I'm not a rocket scientist, and I'm quite certain that I would have been out of my league.
The Drill Bits Are Turning... Right Now!
Right now there's a "do or die" oil operation going on 7,267 miles away from Wall Street -- and nowhere near Saudi Arabia.The company involved stands to send its less-than-$1 share price through the roof if it succeeds in tapping into the estimated 7.4 billion barrels of oil under the ocean floor.
Word is bound to get out any day now... and the potential to make the "easy money" will go out the window.
Click here to learn all of the details on this company and what could be the last oil frontier.
But this is how digital institutions develop to become ever more user-friendly. At the same event at which I became a Bitcoin owner, I also used a Bitcoin ATM. I put in the green stuff, held my digital wallet up to the scanner, and then felt the buzz on my smartphone. Physical became digital. Beautiful.But still I wondered what exactly I could do with these things. That's when the consumer world of Bitcoin products appeared before me. We aren't just talking about Silk Road -- a website that became notorious for enabling the easy, anonymous buying and selling of drugs. There are Bitcoin stores everywhere. And there are services through which you can buy from any website with a Bitcoin interface. There was even talk of Bitcoin futures markets. Some companies were rumored to be going public with Bitcoins, thereby bypassing the whole of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The implications are mind-blowing.
Sacred Pliers
Still, I'm a tactile kind of guy. I need to experience things. So I went to one of these sites. I brought the first product I saw (why, I do not know). It was a pair of pliers for crimping electric cables. I put in my shipping address and up came a note that said it was time to pay. This is the moment I had been waiting for. A QR code popped up on-screen. I held up my "wallet" and scanned. In less than two seconds, the deed was done. It was easier than Amazon's one-click ordering system.
My heart raced. I jumped out of my chair and did a quick song and dance around the room. Somehow, I had seen it thoroughly for the first time: This is the future.The pliers arrived two days later, and even though I have no use for them, I still treasure them.
Bitcoin had already taken off when the surprising Cyprus crisis hit. The government was talking about seizing bank deposits as a way of bailing out the whole system. During this period, Bitcoin essentially doubled in value. Press reports said that people were pulling out government currency and converting it, not only in Cyprus, but also in Spain, Italy, and elsewhere. The price of Bitcoin in terms of dollars soared.
Another way to put this: The prices of goods and services in terms of Bitcoin were going down. Yes, this is the much-dreaded system that mainstream economists decry as "deflation." The famed Keynesian Paul Krugman has even gone so far as to say that the worst thing about Bitcoin is that people hoard them, instead of spending them, thereby replicating the feature of the gold standard that he hates the most! He might as well have given a ringing endorsement as far as I'm concerned.Obsession and Resentment
My own experience with Bitcoin during this time intensified. I began to call friends on Skype and scan their QR codes and trade currencies. I began to rope other people into the obsession based on my experience: You have to own to believe. After one full day of buying, selling, and using Bitcoins, I had the strange experience of resenting that I had to pay a cab fare in plain old U.S. dollars.
How can you obtain Bitcoins? This can be a bit tricky, but you have choices. You can go to localbitcoins.com and find a local person to meet you to trade cash for Bitcoins. Usually, this takes place at high premiums, anywhere from 10-50%, depending on how competitive the local market is. It is understandable why people are reluctant to do this, no matter how safe it is. There is just something that seems sketchy about meeting a stranger in an all-night cafe to do some strange digital currency exchange.
A more conventional route is to go to one of many online sellers, link up your bank account, and buy. [Ed Note: We'll show you the best ways to do this, here.]
This process can take a few days. And then when you set out to transfer the funds, you might be surprised at the limits in the market that exist these days. Sites are rationing Bitcoin selling based on availability. It could take 10 days or more to go from nonowner to real owner. But once you have them, you are off to the races. Sending and receiving money has never been easier.Doubts?
As of this writing, a Bitcoin is trading for $139. Just three years ago, it hovered at 0.14 cents. Many people look at the current market and think that surely this is a speculative bubble. That could be true, but it might not be. People are exchanging an unstable, fiat paper for something with a real title that cannot be duplicated. Everyone knows precisely how many Bitcoins exist at any time. Anyone can observe the transactions taking place in real-time. Its price can go up and down, and that's fine, but there is no real speculation going on here endogenous to the Bitcoin market itself.
Is it a pyramid scheme? The defining mark of a pyramid scheme is that more than one person has an equal claim on the same money or good. This is physically impossible with Bitcoin. The program is set up as a strict property rights regime with no exceptions. In fact, in early March, there was a brief hiccup in the system when some new coins were approved by one group of developers but not by another. A "fork" appeared in the system. The price began to fall. Developers worked fast to resolve the dispute, and eventually the system -- and the price -- returned to normal. This is the advantage of the "open source system."
But what about the vague sense some people have that a handful of coders cannot on their own cause a new currency to come into existence? Well, if you look back at what Austrian monetary theorist Carl Menger says, this is precisely how gold became money. It was not at first used by everyone. Every new currency is at first used only "by the most discerning and most capable economizing individuals." Their successful behaviors are then emulated by others. In other words, the emergence of money involves entrepreneurship -- that is, being alert to opportunities to discover and provide something new.
The single biggest problem with Bitcoins right now is getting them. The exchanges are overloaded. They can't sell them fast enough. The virtual Bitcoin trading floors of these exchanges are full and it's becoming increasingly difficult to make a deal.
This is all part of the pangs of growing, but it can be extremely frustrating for users. What we need are more ATMs that are hooked directly into exchanges. When those come online, crazy things could start happening. We could be looking at the global unraveling of all government paper.Leviathan Leers
But what about a government crackdown? No doubt that attempt will be made. Already, government agencies are expressing some degree of annoyance at what could be. But governments haven't been able to control the cash economy. It would be infinitely more difficult to do this with a virtual currency with no central bank, with encryption, with millions of users per day. Controlling that would be unthinkable.
There was a time when the idea that e-books would replace physical books was absurd. When I first took a look at the early generation of e-readers, I laughed and scoffed. It will never happen. Now I find myself looking for a home for my physical books and loading up on e-books by the hundreds. Such is the way markets surprise us. Technology without central planners makes dreams come true.
It's possible that Bitcoin will flop. Maybe it is just the first generation. Maybe thousands of people will lose their shirts in this first go-round. But is the digitization of money coming? Absolutely. Will there always be skeptics out there? Absolutely. But in this case, they are not in charge. Markets will do what they do, building the future whether we approve or understand it fully or not. The future will not be stopped.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Tucker
A version of this article appeared inThe Freeman.
P.S. April 25, 2013.
That's the day we'll release our Bitcoin report. We're calling it The Bitcoin Bible: The Safest and Easiest Ways to Buy, Sell, Store and Speculate.
If you're an existing club member, you don't need to do anything but mark your calendar. You'll automatically get the report free as part of your membership.
If you've not joined our club yet, you can go here to join. When you do we'll set aside a copy of The Bitcoin Bible for you, right away.
Bet Against Big Pharma
Twenty years ago, Big Pharma put all their eggs in one
basket - a basket that ended in failure...
Now, a group of pioneering scientists stand ready to usher
in the next big medical breakthrough.
Learn more about their groundbreaking discovery...
Learn More Today!Club Chatter
"Mayor Bloomberg is doing great," writes Club member, Robert R., "representing the will of New Yorkers. Do you doubt his focus groups and test polling? Naturally, he is trammeling the rights of individuals, but that is what busybodies always do. And in the boiler house that is NYC, who can be surprised when democracy crushes rights?"
LFT: Not sure if that was satirical or serious...
He continues, "Whether the midsize soda ban is legal is a question of New York law -- what guarantees are in the New York state constitution, and what powers has Albany delegated to subunits. I'd guess 'slim' and 'everything,' but it looks like he has pushed too far, still without penalty. All of Washington swears to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution, and then immediately cut it as close as they dare or actually violate it with impunity.
LFT: Ah, I must have missed the tongue-in-cheekiness of the first comment.
But then he adds, "The United States was always supposed to be a series of competing governments, states, and cities. The competition in laws and taxes was expected to lead to their improvement. But busybodies undercut the process by creeping federal powers. Rock on, Bloomberg! If nothing else, you're a great example to avoid."
LFT: Or did I...
And he concludes, "Morons!"
LFT: Touche. I just hope that last comment was directed toward Bloomberg and not to us here at LFB.
Club member Gordon C. adds to the ongoing discussion about Bloomberg and his war against sugary beverages, writing in to say, "The best way for allowing citizens to self-police their activities (smoking, drinking sugary drinks, eating too much fast food) would be to allow insurance companies the option to charge surcharges that would promote healthy choices... Life insurance policies account for smokers, so why can't health insurance companies place a surcharge for the unhealthy choices we make? Let the free market system work and people will find a way to reduce the cost, as they have done for every other transaction they make... Get the government out of the way and we all prosper."
LFT: No argument here. Most of our elected officials don't understand how insurance works, let alone insurance markets, so it's not surprising that their solutions to the "problem" usually cause even more problems down the road.
Finally, Jack D. has one more response to soda ban supporter,Edmund S., writing, "I don't agree... that tobacco usage was reduced primarily because of laws. Most people that I know, including myself, stopped smoking when all of the health hazards became well publicized.
"What interests me now are the new electronic cigarettes. They supply only the nicotine without the other harmful components in cigarettes... They may not be a good way to quit smoking, but they are becoming popular, because they allow a person to smoke in most bars and restaurants. You can buy the cartridges in different flavors and nicotine levels. What I am expecting in the near future are cartridges that contain THC instead of nicotine. With one of these, a person could smoke in a bar without any marijuana odor. Where medical marijuana is legal, perhaps the advertising would even be legal. After that, we might see cartridges containing opium or any other drug that is usually burned."
LFT: One can only hope...
Thank you for reading Laissez Faire Today. We greatly value your questions and comments. Click here to send us feedback.Follow us on:
To end your Laissez Faire Today e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Laissez Faire Today, cancel your free subscription.
If you are you having trouble receiving your Laissez Faire Today subscription, you can ensure its arrival in your mailbox by whitelisting Laissez Faire Today.
2013 Agora Financial, LLC. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the World Wide Web), in whole or in part, is encouraged provided the attribution Agora Financial is preserved. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized investment advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication b
y our employees to you should be deemed as personalized investment advice. We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security recommended to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of a printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.