Category Archives: Technology

A Look Back for a Company With no Future, by Eric Peters

Posted on November 26, 2022 | 2 comments

Once upon a time General Motors was a great company. From Eric Peters at ericpetersatos.com:

For the second year in a row, GM is selling nostalgia about the cars it used to make and hoping that will translate into sales of the cars it makes now.

Last year, there was “Holiday Ride” – about an old widower and his also-old car, a ’66 Impala SS. This year, it’s “Mrs. Hayes” – about an old widow and her even-older car, a ’57 Chevy Nomad. GM hasn’t made cars like either – stylish, with big V8s under their hoods – in decades. But GM knows people remember those cars, as they don’t the forgettable appliances GM has been making for the past several decades.

Try to imagine “Holiday Ride” or “Mrs. Hayes” with a 1995 Chevy Lumina – or a 2022 Malibu.

GM knows what isn’t selling.

As contrasted with what did, when GM was still making cars people wanted. Mark the italics. Cars that people connected with emotionally. Cars that made them feel happy or excited or . . . something. GM used to make legions of cars like that. People not only remember, they hold onto them. Care for them. Restore them, lovingly and painstakingly.

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Posted in Business, Civil Liberties, Government, History, Technology

Manufactured Dystopia — Globalists Won’t Stop Hacking Humans, by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Posted on November 21, 2022 | 1 comment

Future humans will be so new and improved they won’t even be human anymore. From Dr. Joseph Mercola at theburningplatform.com:

Video Link

Story at-a-glance

  • Digital identity, digital twins, programmable central bank digital currency, a social credit system, human augmentation and the Internet of Bodies (IoB). These are all part of the dystopian future being rolled out by the globalist cabal as the “solutions” to the world’s problems
  • According to transhumanist propaganda, everyone will benefit from human augmentation. In reality, transhumanism is a eugenics program, differing in name only
  • The post-human society envisioned by transhumanists will have no use for billions of people. Since a vast number of jobs will be eliminated and replaced by robots and artificial intelligence, the transhumanist plan requires depopulation
  • A global totalitarian regime will not accept the responsibility to feed, house and provide universal basic income and health care to billions of people who aren’t useful. The logical solution is to exterminate the nonproductive and transform the rest into obedient cyborgs imprisoned within the IoB 5G ecosystem
  • The depopulation requirement of the transhumanist utopia may be why nations refuse to address the extraordinary lethality of the COVID jabs

Digital identity, digital twins, programmable central bank digital currency (CBDC), a social credit system, human augmentation and the Internet of Bodies (IoB). These are all part of the dystopian future being rolled out by the globalist cabal as the “solutions” to the world’s problems.

Transhumanism has long been sold as a way to make us healthier and, eventually, immortal. Today, it’s being promoted under The Great Reset banner of “equity.” The propaganda is that everyone will benefit from human augmentation, from the richest to the poorest. In reality, transhumanism is a eugenics program, differing in name only.

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The Bitcoin Revolution & How Fiat Money Ruins Civilization, by Jimmy Song

Posted on November 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

Any currency whose quantity and value can be adjusted at the whim of a government is inherently immoral and will eventually be tossed into the garbage bin of history. From Jimmy Song at bitcoinmagazine.com:

Fiat money leads to a degradation of incentives, creating a society motivated only by the consumption of resources and zero value production.

This is an opinion editorial by Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin developer, educator and entrepreneur and programmer with over 20 years of experience.

We want nice things. We want to live in a nice house, eat good food and have fulfilling relationships. We want to travel to exotic places, listen to great music and experience fun. We want to build something that lasts, achieve something great and leave a better world for tomorrow.

These are all part of being human, of participating in society and of progressing humanity. Unfortunately, all these things and more get ruined by fiat money. We want nice things, but we can’t have them, and the reason is because of fiat money.

Governments want the power to decree prosperity, fulfillment and progress into existence. They’re like the alchemists of yesteryear, who wanted to turn lead into gold through some formula. Actually — they’re worse. They’re like a five-year-old that thinks by wishing hard enough, that she can fly.

Being the delusional power-drunk politicians that they are, the elites think that by decreeing something to be so, it magically happens. That’s indeed where the word “fiat” comes from. The word literally means “Let there be,” — in Latin and in English, it’s become an adjective to describe creation by decree. This can be most easily seen in Genesis 1:3 in Latin. The phrase there is “fiat lux” which means “let there be light.”

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Posted in Business, Currencies, Debt, Governments, History, Money, Technology

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FTX on Steroids: Is “Tether” the Biden World’s Crypto BCCI? By 2nd Smartest Guy in the World

Posted on November 21, 2022 | Leave a comment

The next crypto domino to fall may well be Tether. From 2nd Smartest Guy in the World at 2ndsmartestguyintheworld.com:

A simple crypto rule to live by: any token or exchange that has a CEO, identifiable individual or development team associated with it is not real crypto; it’s the antithesis of crypto.

This substack has been warning for quite some time that all of these centralized exchanges are nothing more than grifting operations, IRS reporting nodes and CIA black ops money laundering facilitators.

I have been warning since around 2019 that Tether is the single most egregious crypto scam out there. It is far worse than FTX, with Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and his team of scammers having had direct ties with Tether. The sordid cadre of snake oil salesmen behind Tether makes SBF look like an ethical player.

Tether is made possible by the CIA, and in particular the Democratic party of the illegitimate Federal government that has been laundering money to Ukraine using both FTX and Tether.

This substack has covered the criminal CIA and taxation:

2nd Smartest Guy in the World
Original Social Engineering Sin
“…the socio-psychological foundations of socialism is identical to that of the foundations of a state, if there were no institution enforcing socialistic ideas of property, there would be no room for a state, as a state is nothing else than an institution built on taxation and unsolicited, noncontractual interference with the use that private people c…
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10 months ago · 170 likes · 79 comments · 2nd Smartest Guy in the World

Both the CIA and taxation happen to have literally funded the likes of FTX and Tether while protecting these criminal exchanges and centralized “backed” tokens from the very investigations that the unconstitutional three letter agencies are allegedly tasked with enforcing.

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Fedcoin: It Starts With A Trial Run

Posted on November 20, 2022 | Leave a comment

The trial run with Fedcoin is like those simulations before Covid hit. Central bank digital currencies are coming whether anyone wants them or not. From Robert Aro at mises.org:

A cashless society would be the nail in the coffin for liberty and freedom, offering centralization, the likes of which Marx could only dream. The existence of a government backdoor or spyware becomes a real possibility, and given the State’s track record, a real likelihood. Then, of course, the ability to track, freeze, and even set expiry dates on money, will be marketed as “features” to protect the public.

As for the 5.9 million Americans considered “unbanked,” i.e., those who have no checking or savings accounts, (the poor, weak, and vulnerable) they can expect life to get more difficult. This is the price we pay for free market intervention.

Earlier in the week, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York made the announcement:

Members of the U.S. Banking Community Launch Proof of Concept For A Regulated Digital Asset Settlement Platform

The explanation may only make sense for those well versed in crypto technology:

Members of the U.S. banking community today announced the launch of a proof of concept (PoC) project that will explore the feasibility of an interoperable digital money platform known as the regulated liability network (RLN). Using distributed ledger technology, the proposed platform would create innovation opportunities to improve financial settlements and would include participation from central banks, commercial banks of various sizes and regulated non-banks.

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Posted in Banking, Civil Liberties, Collapse, Currencies, Governments, Technology, Tyranny

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WTF Happened with FTX (Part 1 of 3), by Scott Hill

Posted on November 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

For those who want to delve more deeply into the sordid tale of FTX. From Scott Hill at bombthrower.com:

(Part 1 of 3 special to Bombthrower by digital asset space analyst Scott Hill)

On November 2nd Coindesk published a leaked balance sheet from FTX affiliated market maker Alameda Research.

Ten days later the third largest Crypto exchange in the world was bankrupt and its founder was under international investigation for fraud.

In this article I’ll go through how Crypto giant FTX fell apart. There is a lot of backstory to this situation which I’ll cover in a following article, discussing the beginnings of Alameda research and the story of how a sketchy hedge fund turned into a major exchange.

As you’ve no doubt heard repeatedly this week, self custody of your Crypto is the safest approach until we know who is insolvent and the extent of the contagion. If you’re not confident with self custody, Coinbase and Kraken seem to be the safest Crypto exchanges, but that is still a counterparty risk that I’m not willing to take personally in these market conditions.

The Balance Sheet Leak

The exclusive scoop from Coindesk looked bad for Alameda Research. The firm, which performed market making on FTX as well as taking directional bets and venture capital investments, seemed insolvent on a realized value basis.

Their balance showed $14.6 billion in assets held against $8 billion in liabilities. On paper solvent on a mark-to-market basis, but digging in there was no way that mark was reasonable.

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Did They all “Cheat”? By Eric Peters

Posted on November 19, 2022 | Leave a comment

Why is the U.S. government so hostile to diesel cars? Because they pose a strong competitive challenge to electric cars. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

Why is that every major automaker who was – past tense – selling diesel-powered passenger cars in the United States no longer is?

Apparently, it is because all of them “cheated” on government emissions certification tests. Including Mercedes-Benz, which just recently “agreed” – that’s the word used by government when it successfully forces a target to submit by using threats of worse repercussions if the target refuses to “agree” – to hand over $6 million as punishment for “falsely advertising” the cleanliness of its diesel-powered passenger cars purchased by people in the state of Arizona.

At the federal level, Benz has “agreed” to hand over $2.2 billion, including $875 million in civil penalties assessed under the Clean Air Act and $546 million that went toward “fixing” the “affected” vehicles.

Mercedes no longer sells diesel-powered passenger cars in this United States, having been given a strong incentive not to.

Nor, of course, VW – which used to sell a lot of them. Toyota – which sells a lot of them outside the U.S. – may shortly be forced to stop selling them, too. All on the basis of the same claims.

But these claims were always just the excuse. Very much as the claim by a cop that he “smells marijuana” after he pulls you over becomes the excuse to search your vehicle. After he uses the excuse that you were “speeding” to pull you over in the first place. It’s really because he – or rather, the government he works for – wants your money. 

And something else.

The excuses aren’t reasons – in the morally meaningful sense – for no harm has been caused by your driving 43 MPH in violation of a sign that says you are not allowed to drive faster than 35 MPH. Nor your having “smoked marijuana” – even if you actually have smoked it.

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Without Easy Money, the Tech Sector Faces Layoffs and Losses, by Ryan McMaken

Posted on November 19, 2022 | 2 comments

Seems like there are a fair number of zombies even in tech land. From Ryan McMaken at mises.org:

The tech sector in the US has benefitted from more than a decade of ultralow interest rates and easy money. But now it looks like the easy-money era may be ending—at least for now—and that means problems for the sector so long wedded to cheap loans.

Just a year ago, the ten-year Treasury’s yield was 1.4 percent. This month, however, the ten-year’s yield is up to over 3.6 percent, and throughout the economy, debtors are finding that debt service isn’t nearly as cheap as it used to be. Employers in the tech sector are responding as one might expect. Meta/Facebook has announced eleven thousand layoffs. Amazon will soon lay off ten thousand employees. Twitter has laid off at least thirty-seven hundred employees. Stripe, Microsoft, and Snap have each laid off about a thousand workers. Salesforce and Zillow have laid off hundreds. Dozens of other firms have slowed or frozen hiring.

Thanks to rising debt costs, employers need to cut costs, but many employers will soon be facing declining revenues as well. Given that a multitude of indicators point toward an approaching recession—the yield curve is now the most inverted it’s been since 1982—this is likely just the beginning.

What we’re witnessing is the end of the latest tech bubble, and what seemed like rock-solid companies set to expand effortlessly forever will suddenly be characterized more by cost cutting, falling revenues, and a hard slog in search of more capital.

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Scarcification, by Eric Peters

Posted on November 17, 2022 | Leave a comment

If you thought the electricity required for electric cars was bad, wait until you see what it is for electric 18-wheelers. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:

What will it mean when most everything that is hauled by truck is hauled by electric truck? It will mean less stuff is hauled by truck, which is probably the point of the thing – in case you hadn’t noticed.

“Electrification” is about scarcification – my neologism.

The making of less. The making do with less – which will cost more, too.

All in the name of a false cause – that being the saving of a planet that doesn’t need saving – by reducing the number of people on it. Less to eat. Less heat. It all ends up in the same place, or so they hope:

Less of us.

Of course, not of them.

What they are bent on “saving” is the planet, alright.

For themselves.

Toward that end, the first of Tesla’s over-the-road electric big rigs will leave the factory, shortly. They will not travel very far from there, though – notwithstanding the lies being told about their ability to pull a 40 ton load 500 miles, which is about what a diesel-powered big rig can pull, just a fourth as far (a fully-fueled big rig can typically go more than 2,000 miles on 300 gallons of diesel before needing to refuel).

And it’s actually a lot less than that.

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The FBI and Zero-Click, by Andrew P. Napolitano

Posted on November 17, 2022 | 1 comment

The FBI is bound and determined to use an Israeli device that allows it to download a target’s computer or mobile device (without a warrant, naturally) and is lying about it. From Andrew P. Napolitano at lewrockwell.com:

During the Trump administration, the FBI paid $5 million to an Israeli software company for a license to use its “zero-click” surveillance software called Pegasus. Zero-click refers to software that can download the contents of a target’s computer or mobile device without the need for tricking the target into clicking on it. The FBI operated the software from a warehouse in New Jersey.

Before revealing any of this to the two congressional intelligence committees to which the FBI reports, it experimented with the software. The experiments apparently consisted of testing Pegasus by spying — illegally and unconstitutionally since no judicially issued search warrant had authorized the use of Pegasus — on unwitting Americans by downloading data from their devices.

When congressional investigators got wind of these experiments, the Senate Intelligence Committee summoned FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify in secret about the acquisition and use of Pegasus, and he did so in December 2021. He told the mostly pliant senators that the FBI only purchased Pegasus “to be able to figure out how bad guys could use it.” Is that even believable?

In follow-up testimony in March 2022, Wray elaborated that Pegasus was used “as part of our routine responsibilities to evaluate technologies that are out there, not just from a perspective of could they be used someday legally, but also, more important, what are the security concerns raised by those products.” More FBI gibberish.

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