Short answer:

> "People want an authority to tell them how to value things, but they choose this authority not based on facts or results, they choose it because it seems authoritative and familiar." - Michael Burry; The Big Short.

> Why don't any of the people around us understand bitcoin? Why do they ignore it? Why do they refuse to look below the surface?

Because critical thinking consumes energy, and is not pleasant. Whenever we learn new things we have to fire up parts of the brain that we don't use as often.

For example: Learning to drive a car is a stressful and unpleasant time because your brain is fired up learning all the new skills, at once. After a few years you can drive without even thinking.

It's called Fast Thinking and Slow Thinking, slow thinking being when you are learning new skills, material, ideas etc., and fast thinking when you can do things automatically.

In short: People, all of us, don't like to think slow.

Long answer:

There's a book on the subject Thinking, Fast and Slow by Deniel Kahneman

> Major New York Times bestseller
> Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012
> Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011
> A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title
> One of The Economist's 2011 Books of the Year
> One of The Wall Street Journal's Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011
> 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient
> Kahneman's work with Amos Tversky is the subject of Michael Lewis's The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

> In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions.

> Engaging the reader in a lively conversation about how we think, Kahneman reveals where we can and cannot trust our intuitions and how we can tap into the benefits of slow thinking. He offers practical and enlightening insights into how choices are made in both our business and our personal lives―and how we can use different techniques to guard against the mental glitches that often get us into trouble. Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the ten best books of 2011, Thinking, Fast and Slow is destined to be a classic.

>> Do you want to cut environment laws to save a few bucks.

>The EPA and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) seem out of control. This was an interesting and enlightening read: https://www.amazon.com/Government-Bullies-Everyday-Americans-Imprisoned/dp/1455522775

You are right about zoning laws but that is the cause of not putting industrial or certain housing into other communities, and people trying to control their neighbourhoods, those rules start out that way and then end up catching other people leading to more complicated laws. Though I am less knowledgeable about the BLM. I also wonder though which exact rules.

The EPA is really hard to say, but it depends on what law, have not read into it the exact rules that people want struck down or regulation decreased. But they are the reason they exist is that you can't just build whatever you want whenever you want. Also making sure things run in for the best case of public health and the countries environment. The problem is two competing approaches, one is NIMBY who force regulations and second is gutting it in places that matter leading to issue like Flint etc. Their focus has been messed with needs organizational restructure not gutting. Also they are responsible of making sure that companies comply with air pollutant contents, water pollutant contents, waste etc. Also protecting certain habitats in America, that personally I would rather see live on than be bulldozed. There are some that are crazy that you can wonder why, but those are usually due to laws for one issue ending up expanding into something else.

>> Remove labour laws to allow corporations to have a stronger control over their employees.

>I don't subscribe to the need for extensive labor laws. As long as people are not compelled (slave labor) it's just another voluntary trade. With the information we now have at our fingertips, IMO, the risk of abuse is much lower than it may have been at one time. The ad-hoc economy that seems to be popping up (Uber/Lyft/AirBnB/Private Amazon Delivery) seems to be another indicator that there will be many opportunities to essentially work for yourself.

Those are horrible jobs. People who use Uber make less than an average taxi driver. It is a good secondary income, but should never be considered primary. And Airbnb is horrible, one crazy party and you are stuck with huge insurance claim. One death and good luck with even being able to rent it out in a year. An accident and you could be liable for huge damages. There is a reason why hotels have regulations. It's also takes away alot of bargaining power from employees. For example if an employee gets injured at work can he sue if he is forced to sign an agreement that the company is not liable for injuries. Another issue is trying to control worker hours to make sure you don't end up forcing people to work crazy hours. Most of these rules are created to help people working under big business but end up expanding to small business. Which to be honest are some of the worst offenders, by making people do work without the required equipment. Etc.

>> Honestly if benefits could be offloaded to the government in a universal sustem like universal healthcare based on the taxes on income and letting stares decide the way they want it to function, it removes another cost to businesses and simplifies the healthcare issue.

>I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Have you ever dealt with medicaid, medicare or social security? I think the answer is again with private industry not government. Where I do agree is decoupling health insurance from employment. I think a compelling argument can be made that private industry can provide catastrophic insurance (much less expensive than today's plans) and people can save and pay for their own health care or purchase a gap insurance. I'd like to see how a less molested market affects the pricing of care and drugs.

>Preexisting conditions is the nut I think no one has been able to crack as the safety net eliminates the need for paying anything until you are diagnosed. The state answer seems to be to force everyone to pay, even the young and healthy. I disagree with the government compelling action like this.

The issue is you have three bodies, that are not only dealing with themselves but with the private industry. Healthcare insurance is for profit. You remove profit you take away a huge chunk of spending. Healthcare insurance should not be as big of an industry. Germany has a public private hybrid but it is only the hospital's or medical facilities that can be private. Canada has a public system and their overall cost per patient is less than in America. The main reasoning can easily be attributed to early detection, which when people don't have to worry if they are covered or not or its cost can get done. For me it's maslow's triangle, take away a necessity and the person can focus on something else and better themselves.

>At a fundamental level I view government as mostly unnecessary in everyday affairs. For those that feel uncomfortable at the thought I can relate the this best via analogy. There are big differences between ebay and craigslist. Both have differing control and feedback mechanisms yet both can be used safely by taking different types of precautions. Users know the relative risks and consequences of craigslist (no reputation to rely on, potential shady characters, no refunds) and adapt to those risks for the opportunity and/or the savings. Ebay may make people feel more secure, but you're paying for that security and it is by no means required, nor is it inherently unsafe to use craigslist, just requires different behavior. The flaw in the analogy is that ebay's services are generally not priced ridiculously and they are held to a standard of profitability while the government has no such standard and waste and graft is everywhere.

Big government for me is different from many other ways, I believe in the constant updating of the laws, but needs to be focused on is less control on people's personal lives like surveillance and certain rules. Yes it has expanded in many ways but neither government will ever decrease it. They just have their own version of big government they shove on people.

Also eBay and Craigslist are not a good example of managing a country. As both have very different goals. One is for profit and one is management of a country. I mean if you want to see a profitable country look at Singapore and Dubai. They have giant governments yet are really profitable. So was UK and Switzerland. They have a bigger role on citizen lives than the US has.

For me smaller government is decreasing inconvenience but also removing as much of the issues about necessities or how to pay for everything by alleviating costs and letting people focus on taking risks like starting a business etc.


>Re: the prison industrial complex, I share your concern but can't suggest I know enough about the details to offer any value. Intuitively it seems there's massive potential for corruption. And the incarceration rate seems strangely high. Perhaps having less laws to break would be a good start.

If I may - I humbly recommend to read a proper book on bitcoin, not some fluff piece.. Just assuming from the way that you chose your post title that you might be interested in a more substantial bitcoin reading :) Please ignore if that's not the case, don't wanna ruin your reading pleasure or anything.

Economic perspective: The Bitcoin Standard - The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking

Not technical at all, very beginner friendly, but also not a lot of practical information: The Internet Of Money

Gently technical, beginner friendly: Inventing Bitcoin: The Technology Behind the First Truly Scarce and Decentralized Money Explained

Technical deep dives:

• Mastering Bitcoin (also available for free online, as it's an open source book)
  
  
• Programming Bitcoin
  
  
• Grokking Bitcoin

Not sarcastic! If you are interested in international finance, this book is super readable and goes through a lot of the history behind why we have currency, insurance, bonds, options, and all sorts of fun financial instruments. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143116177/

Really like where your head is at - always pays to be skeptical as an entrepreneur. I'm bearish on bitcoin but I like to hang out here to see if there are any interesting projects or opportunities in the crypto space.

u/TheGreatMuffin gave you golden advice. you need a solid philosophical foundation of what bitcoin is - otherwise you'll get rekted by the price and fud.


start with andreas antonopoulos - watch every single video no matter how old they are or how long they are because all of the info is relevant to today. the q&a after his talks are sometimes even more valuable than his lecture.


then for a deep dive visit jameson's site to get into detail about what andreas talked about. andreas also has a couple of books:

https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540574615&sr=1-2&keywords=internet+of+money&dpID=4137Zf9hIaL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540574648&sr=1-1&keywords=mastering+bitcoin&dpID=51nnYGq964L&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

​

also check out saifdean ammous' book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Standard-Decentralized-Alternative-Central/dp/1119473861


very easy read and a clear explanation to the economic significance of bitcoin. good luck.

> Do you want to cut environment laws to save a few bucks.

The EPA and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) seem out of control. This was an interesting and enlightening read: https://www.amazon.com/Government-Bullies-Everyday-Americans-Imprisoned/dp/1455522775

> Remove labour laws to allow corporations to have a stronger control over their employees.

I don't subscribe to the need for extensive labor laws. As long as people are not compelled (slave labor) it's just another voluntary trade. With the information we now have at our fingertips, IMO, the risk of abuse is much lower than it may have been at one time. The ad-hoc economy that seems to be popping up (Uber/Lyft/AirBnB/Private Amazon Delivery) seems to be another indicator that there will be many opportunities to essentially work for yourself.

> Honestly if benefits could be offloaded to the government in a universal sustem like universal healthcare based on the taxes on income and letting stares decide the way they want it to function, it removes another cost to businesses and simplifies the healthcare issue.

I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Have you ever dealt with medicaid, medicare or social security? I think the answer is again with private industry not government. Where I do agree is decoupling health insurance from employment. I think a compelling argument can be made that private industry can provide catastrophic insurance (much less expensive than today's plans) and people can save and pay for their own health care or purchase a gap insurance. I'd like to see how a less molested market affects the pricing of care and drugs.

Preexisting conditions is the nut I think no one has been able to crack as the safety net eliminates the need for paying anything until you are diagnosed. The state answer seems to be to force everyone to pay, even the young and healthy. I disagree with the government compelling action like this.

At a fundamental level I view government as mostly unnecessary in everyday affairs. For those that feel uncomfortable at the thought I can relate the this best via analogy. There are big differences between ebay and craigslist. Both have differing control and feedback mechanisms yet both can be used safely by taking different types of precautions. Users know the relative risks and consequences of craigslist (no reputation to rely on, potential shady characters, no refunds) and adapt to those risks for the opportunity and/or the savings. Ebay may make people feel more secure, but you're paying for that security and it is by no means required, nor is it inherently unsafe to use craigslist, just requires different behavior. The flaw in the analogy is that ebay's services are generally not priced ridiculously and they are held to a standard of profitability while the government has no such standard and waste and graft is everywhere.

Re: the prison industrial complex, I share your concern but can't suggest I know enough about the details to offer any value. Intuitively it seems there's massive potential for corruption. And the incarceration rate seems strangely high. Perhaps having less laws to break would be a good start.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: (see Paul Stamets' book "Mycelium Running").


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|




To help donate money to charity, please have a look at this thread.

This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

I've been using Purse with the "Name Your Discount" feature (pairs with Amazon wishlist) with pretty good results.

Add the eyepiece to your wishlist (make sure to follow steps to make it public) and try it out!

Edit: Also, you can buy products on Overstock.com and games on Steam.

> So far, past performance has perfectly predicted future results

No, it hasn't. This is the precise error that the original quote is intended to challenge. You've basically been fooled by a correlation into thinking you have a useful indicator.

The claim you're making relies on hindsight to adjust for errors in the prediction, and to select which features of past performance should be extrapolated.

For example, looking at the Bitcoin price chart right now, there are two obvious major trends: one is a steady and consistent downtrend that began on Dec 4 and predicts that the price will hit $200 by October; the other is the uptrend that claims that the recent trend is part of a correction that will reverse and continue its upward climb.

If past performance were really a predictor, you should be able to predict when the current downtrend will end. Want to take a stab at that, so we can check how well this really works?

There are also other trends that can be drawn, depending on where you start from and how you fit your predictive curve to the data. With enough parameters, it's possible to fit any curve to a given dataset, and make it look like you've found a predictive formula. But it's only predictive for the past. But exactly the same is true for the simplest curve-fits.

A good introduction to thinking properly about such things is Taleb's book Fooled by Randomness, which among other things, "examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill."

> this is subject to change in the future.

Then it's not a predictor. It's as simple as that.

I found this eyepiece on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Televue-31mm-Nagler-Type-Eyepiece/dp/B00063G0U0

which means: You don't need to convert your bitcoin to another currency to buy it. Instead you use the purse.io site. Purse.io is a marketplace that links those with amazon credit/points and those with btc together. Those with BTC create an auction and list an item they want by linking a wishlist. They can change the discount on this item so they can typically get it for %15 under the value of the item because someone with the amazon credit/points/coins wants the BTC that badly. It will tell you your chances of success as you change the % of the auction. I had a few go through for 20% off and no issues

Digital Gold is the best one re: the history of Bitcoin and the characters in it . Highly recommend it.

• “Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies” by Andreas Antonopoulos
  
  
• “The Internet of Money” by Andreas Antonopoulos
  
  
• “The Internet of Money (Volume 2)” by Andreas Antonopoulos
  
  
• "Mastering Ethereum: Building Smart Contracts and Dapps" by Gavin Wood and Andreas Antonopoulos (Available for Preorder)
  
  
• “Digital Gold” by Nathaniel Popper
  
  
• “Cryptoassets” by Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar
  
  But, the internet is also your best resource.
  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lucas_Jr.

further reading: on basically all 4 bullets https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Incerto/dp/0812975219/ref=pd_sim_14_2/133-0444399-0427912?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0812975219&pd_rd_r=20G8KZ7HRQTB9EV8KRMF&pd_rd_w=QI4pT&pd_rd_wg=y8262&psc=1&refRID=20G8KZ7HRQTB9EV8KRMF

further further reading on the last bullet, and the actual explanation of "black swan" that is starting to show up in crypto but totally incorrectly used https://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Improbable-Robustness-Fragility/dp/081297381X


you could also dig into efficient market hypothesis.

also, if you're into technical analysis/charts, this could shake your views a little but it's good to be challenged

FWIW, he's the author of the book Digital Gold, one of the best accounts of the early days of Bitcoin I've read:

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Gold-Bitcoin-Millionaires-Reinvent/dp/0062362496

I thought the article captured the essence of the issue as well as any piece written for a general audience could. Especially given the subject was Mike Hearn.

So glad I used Teslin Paper for my long term storage. The creator of bitcoinpaperwallet.com recommend it. I ran a paper wallet under the kitchen faucet and not so much as a smudge happened with this paper.

Book plug which you are referencing:

Antifragile

I'm actually in the middle of reading it. Great ideas!

I'll add it to my list. Might have to read it after https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555

which seems pretty similar as well.

> http://www.amazon.com/Regulatory-Standards-Compliance-Handbook-Information/dp/1597492663

>
As I read the chapters that seemed germane to my project, it became clear that the book was not very well written or edited. I am not a grammar snob; the writing is disjointed, and the grammatical and typographical errors are so frequent they are distracting. I do not recommend this book for beginner auditors because there are better publications available (see the ISACA bookstore online).

> > I agree this book is not well written. There are citations in it that are not credited to the original author.

lol

I think that using this and a plate of metal is a better and cheaper form of cold storage.

Depends on what kind of anarchy you are talking about. For an anarchist society that maintains private property, trade, and capitalism, I would highly recommend The Machinery of Freedom

Those items are the same price... $637.50

The overstock price quoted is MSRP

http://www.overstock.com/#/Jewelry-Watches/Citizen-Eco-Drive-Skyhawk-A-T-Mens-Titanium-Watch/3839945/product.html

And the amazon price quoted is not in USD

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012IR0U2/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

If you want to start to become a developer and review code than here is where to start-

https://bitcointechtalk.com/a-gentle-introduction-to-bitcoin-core-development-fdc95eaee6b8

https://bitcointechtalk.com/contributing-to-bitcoin-core-a-personal-account-35f3a594340b

https://bitcoincore.org/en/contribute/

https://bitcoin.org/en/development#code-review

https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-core/contribute/

https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2019-July/

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md

https://programmingbitcoin.com

Learn more -

https://www.lopp.net/bitcoin-information.html

https://www.lopp.net/lightning-information.html

https://10hoursofbitcoin.com/

http://bitcoinrabbithole.org/

https://www.amazon.com/Programming-Bitcoin-Learn-Program-Scratch/dp/1492031496

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=bitcoin&qid=1564057274&s=books&sr=1-6

https://www.amazon.com/Grokking-Bitcoin-Kalle-Rosenbaum/dp/1617294640/ref=sr_1_20?keywords=bitcoin&qid=1564057274&s=books&sr=1-20

I would add that Yan's book is in our Additional Resources section.

Our aim was to make the book very approachable and not intimidating. It's shorter than a lot of other books and meant to give someone who reads it enough information to understand why it matters.

One model is what David Friedman wrote about in "The machinery of Freedom": https://www.amazon.com/Machinery-Freedom-Guide-Radical-Capitalism/dp/0812690699

Basically, to summarize you have a market for "rights protection agencies" and everyone can choose which one they want or not have one at all. But I really think there's many ways to go about it.

DIY - http://www.amazon.com/Piece-Alphabet-Letters-Punch-Stamping/sim/B002ZJ520C/2

There's also Teslin synthetic paper which apparently waterproofs ink after it dries. I haven't tested this myself yet. Expensive too.

This just made me think about making my own.

Get a piece of metal, and a letter/number stamp set (like https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6610-32-Inch-Letter-36-Piece/dp/B000NPUKY8) and make my own.

Total cost would be under $30 and you could make as many as you need for just the cost of a new piece of metal (cheap).

Might do this today..

Read Treasury's War by Juan Zarate.

http://www.amazon.com/Treasurys-War-Unleashing-Financial-Warfare/dp/1610391152

Invest an evening or two reading this for a solid overview: https://www.amazon.com/Cryptoassets-Innovative-Investors-Bitcoin-Beyond/dp/1260026671

http://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/dp/0143116177/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416424333&sr=8-1&keywords=history+of+money&pebp=1416424338150

I think we should all leave her reviews of her book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Production-Money-Break-Power-Banks/dp/1786631342

Is it just me or are prices at Overstock really bad for a lot of items?

I was looking at watches... here's a good example:

$922.78 at Overstock

$487.50 at Amazon

Edit: These are the Canadian prices.

I see no review on her book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Production-Money-Break-Power-Banks/dp/1786631342

OP's concern is their thing, so no surprise it's being mentioned but "brigade"? You can just get this, this, this and this but the concept of having something that survives a fire is not a bad idea.

> N Taleb claimed that, for Bitcoin to succeed, it must be banned by a few governments. I generally agree; the effects of a formal ban could be either good or bad.

Well that does it. I've gone and ordered Antifragile , Taleb is just too reasonable and I think I need to soak in his wisdom. Im a big proponent of neccessary friction in society, and I think that bitcoin needs it to succeed, which I do think it has quite a lot with statist crying terrorism, drugs, murder for hire, etc, despite all the empirical evidence pointing to the fact that it is our established banking system that is the source of the majority of these issues.

It's unlikely that Craig Wright is SN. Craig Wright wrote The IT Regulatory and Standards Compliance Handbook: How to Survive Information Systems Audit and Assessments, which is both sophomoric and riddled with grammatical errors. It's generally known that Satoshi did not make these sort of errors.

While Craig might have had something to do with Bitcoin around the time it was getting off the ground he almost certainly did not posses the cognitive capacity to develop bitcoin in 2008/2009, or currently. I believe it's more likely that he became involved between 2011 and 2013. Around that time he also started trying to leave a trail of digital bread crumbs that lead to him.

In the video of him at the panel he seems to be mistaking what bitcoin might eventually do—with changes to the protocol—and what bitcoin currently does. I'm referencing the argument between Craig Wright and Nick Szabo about turing completeness. In that conversation he also doesn't seem to understand the problem set that Ethereum is trying to solve; mistaking looping in fourth FORTH with Bitcoin's scripting language which is purposefully not Turing-complete as a feature—omitting a discussion about that is damning evidence. Not allowing loops makes Bitcoin scripts fully deterministic; and that allows you to know exactly when the code starts and stops and prevents the system from looping back on itself and crashing.

Even if Wright is correct, Ethereum is a global computer and executing loops by making calls to a separate stack brings in complexities that require the attention of a new focused and open project. It's precisely because of the many complexities that Ethereum makes sense. Also, framing the discussion as one where bitcoin and Ethereum are somehow in competition is absurd.

I have no doubt that Craig has a large vocabulary, but I'm calling bullshit. He should have been able to have a more intelligent conversation with Nick if he was Satoshi.

Finally, how? How can Satoshi be a reclusive genius and a self aggrandizing blow-hard. It makes no sense.

So we are taught to laugh at anything called a cure for cancer, but ...

Well here it is since the early 1900's more than 100 natural cures for cancer have been found.

One of the simplest:

ESSIAC, you can buy it for around $20 a pound .. that is enough to make a couple months of the 'tea'. Depending upon the severity and type it may take up to a year to be sure it is completely gone. Some have found that over a period of a half a year or so skin tags shrink and vanish. Others have found that if you take the tea for a few months the tumors will shrink, but if you stop before all traces are gone then it usually comes back very very fast and kills .. a lot like not finishing ones antibiotics, but worse.

Another, Red Reishi, is recognized by the Japanese government as a treatment for cancer. Many mushrooms have strong anti-cancer and anti viral properties. (see Paul Stamets' book "Mycelium Running").

I have a very skeptical co-worker, and I drop small hints every now and again because otherwise he gets grumpy and thinks I'm a nut job. He is becoming more curious on his own now and he's learning what I have come to realize over the years .. we are systematically lied to about everything.

I haven't even brought up the cancer stuff yet.


Edit: For the downvoters, you can read the whole story here. Basically Rene Caisse ran a clinic as a charity, supervised and backed by 8 reputable doctors, for many years before the Canadian government got tired of due process and legality and just shut her down. Rene was only allowed to treat patients that the medical industry could not cure. She was harassed by the medical industry and the police the entire time. She made no money from this and in fact spent her own money curing people with Essiac tea. Anyone who thinks there is a ritual involved is full of shit.

You're using a text about "financing of terrorism" to state that HSBC execs knew about drug money. There is no connection between these.

To understand what's going on here, you should read a book called "Treasury's War" by Juan Zarate:

http://www.amazon.com/Treasurys-War-Unleashing-Financial-Warfare/dp/1610391152

During the period of time under discussion the US Treasury decided it was going to single handedly fight Bush's War On Terror. Its own staff members had inserted into the PATRIOT Act a new clause stating that it could designate any financial institution anywhere as being of "primary money laundering concern". This was effectively a death warrant for the institution in question. However, no requirements were put on these designations. No evidence, process or really anything was needed. And people like Zarate were determined to go home and tell the wifey that they were brave freedom fighters keeping America safe.

The book details their titanic screwups in enormous detail, which is kind of amazing because it is written by one of the guys most responsible. Even now he can't see how awful the book makes him look.

For example, your quote talks about Saudi banks. The Treasury liked to designate foreign banks as being key players in global terror networks based on ...... no evidence at all. Or sometimes just a single account. Yet it expected everyone to immediately cut ties with those banks on their say so.

One notorious case (documented in Zarate's book) involved a very old and respected US bank that happened to have many foreign embassies as clients. Zarate's team at the Treasury Dept decided that foreign embassies of middle eastern countries were inherently suspicious. No real justification for this view is provided in the book - they just felt sure those embassies were up to no good. So they designated the bank as of "prime money laundering concern" under their PATRIOT Act powers and it went bankrupt. Of course, now the US is screwed because suddenly lots of foreign embassies don't have bank accounts anymore and can't pay their employees. What's more, no other bank will touch them because they're afraid of the hit men at the Treasury. Cue minor diplomatic crisis. Eventually the State Dept had to intervene and give some other banks assurances that they wouldn't be prosecuted or forcibly bankrupted by taking on the embassies. All those embassies (except Cuba I think) got bank accounts back. So, net result: one dead US bank. No other impact. Repercussions on the Treasury staff who did this: none, because even though it was widely recognised as an epic fail, they were just fighting terrorists y'see? And in wars mistakes happen.

In short, after reading this book, I really can't see American statements about banks being involved in terrorist financing as anything meaningful. There are too many well documented instances where they simply made things up, or whacked random institutions just because they could.