In one of Greg Swann’s posts on finding splendor for yourself he came to the conclusion that we don’t have to get there, we are already here! Here’s what Greg said towards the end of that post:
Good news: We’re already here. You’re already a sane, normal person, and you already live among your neighbors in peace and prosperity. Yes, the state preys upon you like a vast, hideous vampire, reeking of death, impetuously random in its predations. But it matters less and less to civilized people with every passing day.
I don’t ever favor trying to defeat or take over evil institutions. It is sufficient to supplant them. And this sane and civilized people are already doing, just by living their sane and civilized lives. Consider eBay. Consider PayPal. Now think of a clearinghouse like PayPal unknown to anyone except its depositors. Does anything like this already exist? How would you know if it does? How hard would it be to create, now that you know it could exist?
I love the idea of supplanting systems that have lost their utility. I read that and wondered. Does anything like this already exist? Is there a world, in reality or in cyberspace where civilized people are able to engage in commerce freely? The answer is of course there is!
In previous career choices I used to do business with entrepreneurs and business people from Europe and Asia. They were from some of the highest taxed economies in the world. To me, it appeared they spent considerable time and effort structuring their businesses to keep assets in various places worldwide so they did not have to realize the taxes on them in their home countries. It seemed like a bunch of trouble compared to just living somewhere where tax rates were acceptable, like the United States in those days.
Since then, we’ve had the internet revolution. The tax climate in the United States is changing. So, I wondered how those folks might function today. What I found is that their goal of earning and keeping assets in various places and countries has become much easier. There are tools today I wouldn’t have dreamed of 20 years ago. Of course, those trying to track and take assets have new tools as well.
I love profits, earning profits and having them to do with as I wish. With the weekend’s events, I’ve been thinking how do people, like the Europeans I used to see, find ways to “make themselves unappetizing to predators.” With just a few minutes on the internet I found I was extremely behind the times and naïve as to the options out there.
Yes, there is electronic money. iGolder, WebMoney, Liberty Reserve, Pecunix, ECU Money, GlobalDigitalPay and EuroGoldCash to name a few. There are debit cards that draw directly from that money and hand it to your from your local cash machine! There are stores that access electronic money and send you products anywhere in the world! Businesses doing international purchasing and sales no longer need to go through all the delays and expenses of letters of credit like we did in the old days. I’m no expert in international finance, but I was conversant in the business transactions of twenty plus years ago. It looks like things have changed.
Of course, there are potential problems too. Having assets isn’t much good if the IRS decides you belong in jail, their ultimate coercion system, because you did something that they don’t approve of. There are other issues to consider with electronic currency, potential for fraud, ease of money laundering, hacking, exchange rate instability and the stability of the providers themselves. Some of these systems are supposed to be backed by gold and some are backed by currencies. They all have their own approach to providing their services.
There are also electronic stores, debit cards and exchanges that will convert electronic money to currencies in almost any country.
Is there risk in these electronic currencies? As in all things in life, certainly there is. Am I recommending any of these services? Nope. I just find it fascinating that there are markets and currencies that can operate with a degree of privacy outside the mainstream systems. With our government’s current approach to governing, I am sure they will find many more customers from the less and less free United States looking for ways to do things to improve how much of their profits they get to keep.
I’ll leave it to others to suggest how e-currencies might be used legally and effectively. Personally, I’m still trying to figure out if and how to use Private Transfer Fees!
Greg Swann says:
Oh, good on ya! This is great information.
> Having assets isn’t much good if the IRS decides you belong in jail, their ultimate coercion system, because you did something that they don’t approve of.
One scofflaw is a public object lesson in the iron fist of the state. A million scofflaws is a law that can no longer be enforced. Fifty million scofflaws is a new day for liberty in North America.
The truth is, we are voluntary slaves. We forge the chains that bind us. But we can break those chains, too. How? All you have to do is yearn to be free more than you fear being imprisoned.
March 22, 2010 — 6:50 pm
Sean Purcell says:
Nice post Al. I’ve been thinking along these lines as well. Seems to me there should be a growing demand for online bartering of goods and services. No taxes, no reporting… just one man’s property traded for another. Sound too simplistic? It is. But no more so than the commercial property exchanges that take place at many of our Boards right now. I used to regularly attend these sessions; the “take sheet” might get a little complicated, but in the end the trades happen. Merely a function of enough participants and enough goods… kind of like a free market.
March 24, 2010 — 1:20 pm