Get Bit, The Bitcoin Market

There is a debate in the financial world as to the value of digital (or crypto) currencies. Bank of America recently stated they "could become a major means of payment for e-commerce and may emerge as a serious competitor to traditional money-transfer providers" and assigned a fair value of $1300 per bitcoin. On the other side, critics argue, "It’s a complete joke.  Even a crappy currency has government taxing ability behind it, or some sort of a standing army or something like that." My opinion is that crypto currencies are a revolutionary idea that provides an alternative to fiat currencies (dollars) and precious metals.

The two major online currencies are Bitcoin and LiteCoin. Neither are backed by governments, but instead are generated by deciphering encrypted keys. Each "coin block" found makes the next more difficult to find through increasingly difficult encryption. The code that generates this currency is completely open source which ensures there are no back doors or cheating. Solving these encrypted codes is known as "mining." The coins mined are then traded for goods and services or other currencies. The coins have value for the same reason the US dollar or other currencies have value. People assign them value.

What are the mayor differences between fiat currencies like dollars and crypto currencies?

• There are no governments involved to inflate and manipulate the value of crytpo currencies. 
• Most crypto currencies have an absolute limit in quantity, so they can't be printed. 
• There is an equal opportunity to find or "mine" for crypto currencies with free software.
• Very few transaction fees, no wire fees and quick transactions. 
• The exchange of coins is a completely free market with major players (like coinbase) helping users move money between fiat currencies and crypto currencies.
• You can save your crypto currencies in a file with backups and encryption known as a "wallet" instead of a bank.

Bitcoin Exchange

The value of crypto currencies is mostly determined on exchanges, like other currency exchanges. There are dozens of crypto currencies, some are created as college projects and others by enthusiasts. Most can be exchanged for bitcoins, the dominant player. For instance, the video game Second Life uses Lindon Dollars to transact within the game. An exchange called Virwox allows the purchase of Lindon Dollars and the exchange between bitcoins and Lindons. This is one of the more expensive ways to purchase Bitcoin due to the number of transaction fees.

Where as most crypto currencies have little value, Bitcoin is essentially the gold of cryptos. Litecoin is the silver of crypto currency. You can see this relationship in the markets, with Litecoin slightly above the value of silver and Bitcoin slightly below the value of gold. It is a safe bet that many people are diversifying away from precious metals into cryptos due to recent market manipulation by central banks.

The exchanges are mostly completely free markets with little or no regulation or manipulation by governments. As such people have begun to speculate in the markets as an alternative to stocks or slow moving precious metals. The result is an explosion of wealth creation for both bitcoins and litecoins.

Litecoin Exchange

If you read candlestick charts and indicators, there may be a place for you in the exchanges. If you don't, you can "mine" for crypto currencies like a old-timey gold prospector. You could also buy crytpo currencies while they are cheap as Christmas presents for family members who are always on their smartphone.

As a Christmas present, there is a growing number of markets and apps that accept bitcoin and litecoin. SpendBitcoins and UseLiteCoin are incomplete lists of places where the digital currency is accepted. You will mostly find tech related goods and services.

Right now the risk of holding bitcoin as a currency is about the same as holding currency from Cuba or Zimbabwe based on the market cap of $11,023,236,650. As you can see in the above charts, that market cap is rising fast. As of writing this article, one bitcoin is $840 and a litecoin is $30.50. This is definitely something to look into for yourself.

(Click on some of my article's logos to buy tshirts and spread the word.)

Notes

Basic Information

• Add bitcoin payments instantly to almost any webpage
• How the Bitcoin Protocol actually works
• List of Bitcoin Exchanges
• Get a Bitcoin Wallet (free)
• HOW TO BUY BITCOIN, LITECOIN, AND DOGECOIN

Government vs We The People

• Reuters: U.S. Treasury cautions Bitcoin businesses on legal duties
• China Bans Financial Companies From Bitcoin Transactions

You Can Keep Your Plan Until 2014 Election Period.

If you hate politics, this latest speech by President Obama isn't going to help the situation. Due to the problems with the ObamaCare disaster, he has unilaterally decided that you can keep your insurance plan until the 2014 election.  It is a brazen political move that shows a complete lack of compassion.

"Already, people who have plans that predate the affordable care act can keep those plan if they haven’t changed. That was already in the law. That is what is called a "Grandfather clause" and it was included in the law.

Today, we are going to extend that principal both to people whose plans HAVE changed since the law took effect and to people who bought plans since the law took effect.

So, State Insurance Commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and can’t be sold in their states, but the bottom line is issuers can extend current plans that would otherwise be cancelled into 2014 and Americans who's plans have been cancelled can choose to re-enroll in the same 'kind of' plan.

We are also requiring insurers to extend current plans to inform their customers about two things. One, what protections these renewed plans don’t include. Number Two, that the marketplace offers new options with better coverage and tax credits that MIGHT help you bring down the cost."

There is nothing that makes previously cancelled plans available at the previous price. Surprisingly, they did not promise additional subsidies to lower cost of new plans by using the federal treasury as a political weapon. This is president Obama's 20th "administrative" change to the law and it doesn't improve the situation for anyone.

The president added, in response to questions, some very headline grabbing statements.

"I think it is legitimate for them to expect me to have to win back some credibility on this healthcare law in particular and on a whole range of these issues in general. Thats on me. We fumbled the rollout of this healthcare law."

"There is a whole bunch of stuff we did well.." (he then listed several items that were implemented by private insurance companies)

"We are also discovering that insurance is complicated to buy."

"Another mistake we made was underestimating the difficulties of people purchasing insurance online and shopping for a lot of options, with a lot of cost and benefits and plans. Uhh, and somehow expecting that would be very smooth and then they've also got to try to apply for tax credits on the website."

"Part of what we are realizing is that there is a certain portion of people who are going to need more help and more hand holding in the application process. "

The grandfather clause we put in place is almost like we said to folks you have to buy a new car, even if you can't afford it right now.

What we did was we chose a path that was the least disruptive to try to FINALLY make sure that health care is treated like it is in every other advanced country. [They lied to force us into socialized medicine.]

This is what happens when one party rams complex laws upon the American people without reading the law. Doo Doo Economics and our allies at the San Diego Local Order of Bloggers have warned everyone about ObamaCare for years. These warnings were met with venom and hate by progressive. They threw human feces at my home.  Now, that the shutdown and the tea party have been proven correct, Americans are met with a brazen political move designed to influence elections instead of doing what is best for America.

With all this failure and breakage of the health insurance system due to ObamaCare, the president now promises that we won't get "dragged back into a broken system." The federal government is breaking our legs and giving us crutches then expecting us to be thankful.

ObamaCare needs to be repealed. The law isn't a trainwreck, it is a jumbo jet crashing into a skyscraper.

The ObamaCare Insurance Fraud Scandal

With all the discussion, no one in the media is explaining why insurance companies supported ObamaCare. The progressive-socialist vision is of a health care system without "greedy" insurance companies. The president on many occasions called ObamaCare a "transitional step" toward government run "single payer" health care. So, why did insurance companies support a law designed to destroy their industry?

They were promised an unaccountable system ripe for massive fraud.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that $1 out of every $7 spent on Medicare is fraud.

GAO has designated Medicare and Medicaid as high-risk programs, in part due to their susceptibility to improper payments—estimated to be about $65 billion in fiscal year 2011

ObamaCare was sold to insurance companies as a medicare-like direct payment system. A system where the IRS determines an individual's tax credit at the end of the year...after ObamaCare subsidies have been directly payed to insurance companies. If an individual claims too large of a subsidy, the IRS goes after the individual, not the insurance company, to recoup the money.

Let's walk through this. (As we do, imagine President Obama explaining this to insurance executives with a deceptive "come on guys, this is free money" tone.)

John Insurance Consumer signs up for ObamaCare Silver Plan with ACME Insurance Company. John is not eligible for Medicare, but will get $1000 per month in tax credits through ObamaCare for a plan that costs $1400 per month. ACME Insurance Company bills John $400 per month and Uncle Sam is directly billed $1000 per month.

ACME Insurance Company is directly billing ObamaCare $1000 per month for John. If the IRS determines at the end of the year that John is only eligible for $750 per month in subsidies, they go after JOHN not ACME for the difference.  If John is an illegal immigrant, he is exempt from ObamaCare fines.

Notice, if you will, no one in the media is explaining who pays the $1400 per month premium. A $1400 per month premium is a massive out-of-pocket bill. This is where, remember this term, ADVANCEABLE TAX CREDITS come in.

Per Kaiser Family Foundation:

How will premium subsidies be provided? 

Premium tax credits would be refundable and advanceable. A refundable tax credit is one that is available to a person even if he or she has no tax liability. An advanceable tax credit allows a person to receive assistance at the time that they purchase insurance rather than paying their premium out of pocket and waiting to be reimbursed when filing their annual income tax return

The advanceable tax credits are determined by a series of income percentages. It is impossible to know precisely an individual's income at the beginning of the year or when they sign up for ObamaCare. So, insurance companies must ESTIMATE the amount of subsidy they receive directly from ObamaCare.

Do we need to say more?

No, but to spell it out. Medicare is exposed to massive fraud because its direct payments compensate billed claims. The claims are paid up front and are seldom held accountable.  ObamaCare eliminates the fraudulent claims by making them estimates. They are estimates of advanceable premiums. The insurance company being paid the advanceable premium is not liable for bad estimates, individuals are held accountable by the IRS. This incentivizes individuals to report less income and rely more upon government subsidies AND it promises an unaccountable, uncapped fire hydrant of government payments to ACME insurance.

ObamaCare, aka the PPACA, expands medicaid/medicare fraud from over billing by individuals and doctors to over billing by insurance companies. ObamaCare redefines "Insurance Fraud."

How big is the ObamaCare insurance fraud market as promised to insurance industry?  Per Kaiser Family Foundation:

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the direct cost of premium and cost-sharing subsidies to be $350 billion from 2010 to 2019, and $8 billion in indirect costs. The cost of the subsidies is a function of the number of people that are eligible for subsidies, and how generous the subsidies are. 

Consider this...An undocumented or even fictitious health consumer named Jose has never filed a tax return. ACME insurance signs him up with a massive advanceable tax credit...

In the best case, ACME insurance is vilified in an "Insurance Fraud" Sting. The more likely outcome is that the fraud would succeed. Jose would be exempt from fines and the tax payer would pay. The corrupt system would continue until it becomes politically expedient to demonize insurance in favor of Single Payer.

This deception strategy was used in the Fast & Furious scandal. The U.S. Department of Justice & ATF sold machine guns, sniper rifles, grenades and other small arms to Mexican drug gangs. The ensuing crisis was intended to push gun control legislation by blaming "gun proliferation" on American gun owners. The ability to blame opponents for progressive policies was also used during the shutdown to blame Republicans for President Obama's shutdown of the government by refusing to delay the ObamaCare mandate.

The Obama Administration Also Committed Fraud in the Inducement Against Insurance Companies

 OSHA standard 1910.1030(e)(2)(ii)(F)
 “lab coats, gowns, smocks, uniforms, or other protective clothing
shall not be worn outside of the work area…”

Insurance companies were swindled along with the American public. The administration appealed to their greed through fraud. President Obama lied about Americans keeping their health insurance under ObamaCare. This lie is causing the loss of tens of millions of insurance customers according to estimates based on the (Un)Affordable Care Act, page 34,552.

Per a deleted and then revised NBC news expose on ObamaCare (pdf of original story): Obama admin. knew millions could not keep their health insurance

That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them. 

...

George Schwab, 62, of North Carolina, said he was "perfectly happy" with his plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also insured his wife for a $228 monthly premium. But this past September, he was surprised to receive a letter saying his policy was no longer available. The "comparable" plan the insurance company offered him carried a $1,208 monthly premium and a $5,500 deductible.
And the best option he’s found on the exchange so far offered a 415 percent jump in premium, to $948 a month.

"The deductible is less," he said, "But the plan doesn't meet my needs. Its unaffordable."
"I'm sitting here looking at this, thinking we ought to just pay the fine and just get insurance when we're sick," Schwab added. "Everybody's worried about whether the website works or not, but that's fixable. That's just the tip of the iceberg. This stuff isn't fixable." 

This suggests why healthcare.gov does not work. It is intended to be a scapegoat when dealing with insurance companies. When insurance executives question why customers are not materializing as promised, the administration points to the Youtube video...oops... the website.  

So what does this all mean?

Between 15 and 93 million Americans will suffer the loss of health coverage. That doesn't matter to the progressive movement because the ideological ends justify the means. Individuals do not matter in ObamaCare because it is not a health care plan. It is an empty promise designed to fail and swindle us into government controlled "single payer" or "universal medicaid" health care.

ObamaCare is NOT a train wreck. It is a jumbo jet crashing into a skyscraper.

Additional San Diego Local Order of Bloggers articles exploring related topics:

• The ObamaCare Bait and Switch- October 30, 2013
• The Coming Obamacare Recession
• It's pretty clear what this is all about
• Obamacare rolls on
• Socialism is a Euphemism for...
• The Party of No...
• ObamaCare Denied for Gun Owners

Obama-Oblivious: Faked Obliviousness

Obama-Oblivious: (adjective)

1. A claim of ignorance that is not credible and appears self serving. 
2. Faked Obliviousness  
3. "Deny Deny Deny" 
4. Counterfeit, Sham or Contrived Ignorance

Synonyms: lie, dishonesty, misinform, mislead, deceitful, fallacious, fraudulent, dishonorable, deceptive, shoddy, false, picaresque, feigned, ObamaCare

Usage:  Eric Holder is Obama-Oblivious on the Fast & Furious scandal.

Young Single Chaldean El Cajon Woman Refutes Mayor

Sarah is a young, hard working, single Chaldean woman. During the last week she worked three double overtime shifts. This young Catholic woman lives at home with her family and her mother works for the school district. Sarah doesn't take handouts and she never received "free lunches" at school. She is very proud of her family's hard earned success and that of other members of the Chaldean community. She says comments from disgraced El Cajon Mayor, Mark Lewis, make him sound like "a hater."

"Hater" is a synonym for jealous and resentful, in case you aren't familiar with the term.

Chaldeans are Catholics from the Middle East, most are from Iraq. Of the 50,000 Chaldeans in San Diego County, between 10,000 and 12,000 live in El Cajon. They have lived in close-knit communities since Islam arose from the Saudi Arabian peninsula and conquered most of the Middle East. If not for their community focus and hard work, they would have been swept away by the forces of Islam long ago.

Many Americans are not familiar with the struggles of Christians in the Middle East or the differences in cultures from that area of the world. Christians are under attack today in Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Mark Lewis' recent statements seem born from this fundamental misunderstanding. Arun Gupta of Progressive.org reported in the article Little Baghdad, California

Mark Lewis is mayor of El Cajon. Now sixty-four, he’s been in office since 1998 and grew up here. If he is any indication, cultural misunderstandings are abundant. He says single women have complained to him about not being served in Chaldean-owned establishments, and he’s warned them they must serve women. He says, “In our society the female is the same as the male. They haven’t got that through their heads yet.”

Lewis says some Chaldean schoolchildren who receive free lunches are “being picked up by Mercedes Benzes.” He adds: “First time, they come over here, it doesn’t take them too long to learn where all the freebies are at.” This, he says, causes “a lot of resentment in regard to veterans,” who ask, “Why can’t [the federal government] support veterans like they support minorities coming over here?” Lewis says this is creating “white flight.”

Sarah is critical of Lewis' statements, "How does he know which kids are dropped off in Mercedes and which are getting free lunches? I never had a free lunch because my parents worked hard. Chaldeans live in different (financial) circumstances. Some have nice cars and some might be driving old Mercedes that they bought for $8000."

El Cajon Mayor Mark Lewis — U-T file photo

Karen Pearlman of the UT San Diego reported on the Mayor's resignation:

“I was simply expressing my opinion that I believe that the limited social services made available to our residents in El Cajon should go to those most in need of them, including those within the Chaldean community.”

In a statement released to U-T San Diego on Thursday night, Lewis said his decision to resign is primarily due to health reasons, including what he described as a minor stroke in 2010, cancer and a dislocated shoulder.

“Unfortunately, at times, this has caused me some difficulties in clearly communicating my thoughts, including during the recent interviews that have caused understandable concern within our community and for which I have already apologized,” Lewis’ statement said.

Sarah is concerned that widespread abuse of social services is being unfairly blamed on the small Chaldean community. Some of the community is comprised of penniless refugees who have just arrived. The refugees were professionals who could afford to flee. Doctors and engineers who need recertified to work in the U.S. and who need assistance and understanding. Other Chaldeans have been working in San Diego for decades. Sarah's family fled Iraq when Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979. She was born in La Mesa, California over a decade later.

Her family has owned several businesses in San Diego County and they never turn down patronage from "single women." Apparently, Mark Lewis' "single women" comment confused Christian Chaldeans with fundamentalist Islam due to his stroke. Here is a helpful tip, look for beards.

President to Delay ObamaCare Mandate Just as Tea Party Requested during Shutdown

On Monday at 11:25am in the White House Rose Garden, President Obama is having a press conference on the embarrassing ACME ObamaCare website (HealthCare.gov).

ObamaCare fines Americans who do not sign up on a website that does not work. This is the definition of unfair. The President will be forced to delay the ObamaCare mandate EXACTLY as the Republicans had asked for and President Obama denied in order to shutdown the government.

Before President Obama is forced to delay the individual mandate and admit the Tea Party was right, he will claim that the technical "glitches" can be fixed. Expect a "best and brightest techies will fix it" statement. Massive additional tax monies will be wasted on the effort. Unfortunately for the President, failing, poorly envisioned, multi-million dollar centralized systems aren't "fixed" by more or better programmers. They die and are redesigned.

Massive customer service centered technology innovations are the realm of the free market, not big government.  Like education, no amount of money or big government will make the system work reasonably. But again, ObamaCare was never designed to work, it was designed to kill private insurance companies in order to force "single-payer" socialized medicine on Americans.

So the President and the Senate shutdown the government for nothing. They screamed and cried that it was Bush's fault or the "tea party's" fault to conceal the truth, but truth is hard to kill. In the end, ObamaCare must be delayed. If it is not, it will drive millions of Americans into the arms of its tea party.


...Or maybe the failed "ACME Healthcare" website is intended to take the blame for the system. Maybe this is all part of the "Single Payer" plan to provide a scapegoat for the administration when dealing with angry insurance companies. Blame "the website", the latest in a long line of  "blame Bush" tactics.

Dear Dianne Reidy, House of Representatives' Stenographer: Obama Takes Moscow

Dear Dianne,

My understanding is that you said the following: (h/t Daily Caller)

“He will not be mocked,” referencing the progressive lies that repeatedly misdirect America to the brink of disaster. “It is deception here This is not, one nation under God. It never was. Had it been, it would not have been… It would not have been, the Constitution would not have been written by Free Masons. They go against God. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve two masters. Praise be to God, Lord Jesus Christ.”

We understand your frustration at the repeated lies from the administration and their allies, both in the media and the Republican establishment. However, your concerns are unfounded. President Obama and the progressives may have won the battle, but they just lost the war.

In effect Obama invaded Moscow. (Thanks to J.H. for this analogy)

Britannica.com:

In June 1812 Napoleon’s army entered Russia, and the Russians fell back before him. Under pressure of public opinion, Alexander on August 9 appointed (Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov) Kutuzov commander in chief of all the Russian forces and, on the following day, made him a prince. Napoleon sought a general engagement, but Kutuzov’s strategy was to wear down the French by incessant minor engagements while retreating and preserving his army. 

Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov was brave, he had proven himself in battle, strongly believed in the Russian Orthodox Church, and he looked out for the troops’ well-being. The nobles and clergy also regarded Kutuzov highly. He had studied the American revolution, particularly how a people could lose every major battle and win the war.

Kutuzov fought and lost a major battle at Borodino on September 7 which resulted in Napoleon taking Moscow. Napoleon accomplished his goal. In that day, taking the capital of a nation typically ended the war. Do you see where this is going?

Don't we hear "Obama won the election" by the frantic leftists? Isn't the victimized president whining that everyone else is mean because he doesn't get what he wants? Napoleon thought he would win once he invaded Moscow and President Obama thinks he has won by implementing ObamaCare. In both cases, reality didn't match the plan.

Napoleon scorched the earth during his march through Russia just as President Obama has used corruption, cheating and lies to pave his way to victory. Both of these arrogant strategies lack an exit strategy. Neither Napoleon nor Obama believed they would need an exit strategy. They expect opponents to surrender and allow them to revel in victory.

Napoleon realized that he had NOT won peace and began his retreat in October, during the Russian winter. He faced constant battles as he tried to retreat to safety. His grand army was decimated just as the progressive movement is about to be decimated. ObamaCare and the debt are playing the roll of the Russian winter and the tea party is the swelling opposing army.

We need only do two things to decimate the entire evil progressive movement.

1. Block the Amnesty bill which they hope will distract us from the failure of ObamaCare and provide more voters who don't have skin in the game. Remember illegal aliens are exempted from ObamaCare penalties.
2. Continue to fight at every turn, in every way imaginable to expose the heartless, cruel reality ObamaCare and growing debt.

This is OUR country. America is NOT a socialist country. Socialism is Wrong and We Should Get Rid of It! 

Join the fight, on twitter, facebook, pinterest, reddit, or where you have an audience. www.theslobs.org is designed to help you find interesting articles and share them. We don't have to do anything extreme, just point at the truth with courage...and understand that the leftists trying to shame you into shutting up have no shame themselves. They are manipulating you because they know good, decent people are socialized to submit to shaming. It is a tactic developed by social psychologists who work for the progressives.

Dianne, there is no reason to be upset. We are winning.