BITCOIN, SCHMITCOIN.

Gracious me, we certainly have been hearing quite a bit about the so-called "cryptocurrency" called "Bitcoin" lately, haven't we? We were lured into subscribing to a new E-mag called "AMERICAN CONSEQUENSES" mostly on the strength of one of the founders of the publication being P.J. O'Rourke; who is an American satirist who has had great influence on us. 

Alas. we have only received two issues of the complete magazine.  P.J.'s articles have displayed all of the unique qualities of the Irish-American satirist he is famous for. But then he began sending "special bulletins" urging us to look into the "Cryptocurrency" called "Bitcoin".  Now lately I have been getting "bulletin" after "bulletin" from AMERICAN CONSEQUENSES concerning the advisability of "investing" in "Bitcoin".

So what exactly is "Bitcoin"?

Good fucking question. 

From what I know, sometime back in the early 2000s some guy who called himself Imaso Fulloshita (or something) came up with the idea of creating a unique series of ones and zeroes in sequence and called it a "bitcoin"  Only so many "bitcoins" are in existence, many or most of them trapped in virtual "veins" that can be "mined" by anyone who has 7 or 8 Cray supercomputers linked together and enough money to pay for a day or two's output of the electricity produced by the Hoover Dam to run them. 

Or, you can buy "Bitcoins" if you have the multiple tens of thousands of dollars they are touted as being worth. The means of doing so is complex and your purchase is stored in a "virtual wallet" protected by a "secure password" which, if lost or forgotten means you lose everything. And, let's not even mention, "Secure Password" is increasingly an oxymoron. 

As to making transactions in "Bitcoin", these are recorded in a public ledger called a "Blockchain", whatever the fuck that is. And it's supposedly secure because blah, blah blah arglebargle flap doodle horsecrap. Naturally whole businesses such as :PayPal and others have adopted mechanisms for accepting this "crypto" (ie: private fiat) currency as payment. 

The whole thing seems to me as an overly-complicated way to store and transmit value based on an imagined product that somebody will soon be able to counterfeit using a simple device such as the laptop computer I have been writing this on. 

On the other hand, CASH, the medium that I prefer for all transactions that can be made in person, can be made as secure as "Bitcoin" by lief of modern devices such as holigraphy and microprinting. Wanna steal my cash? look at the masthead of this blog. See that weapon? 

I admit that I don't understand the ins and outs of the Federal Reserve System. But I do understand that if something costs two bucks and I have five bucks in my wallet, then if I get that thing I will have three bucks left, with which I can buy a gallon of gasoline with change left over; and not have to check three or four web sites to find this out. 

Rule one of money: KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE. I have never had cash declined. I have never had anyone tell me they didn't understand why their cash was worthless because they put cash into it that afternoon. I have never been scammed by someone swiping their "credicks card" and then pressing "Print receipt" twice,leading me to believe I had had my device accept a payment.  

In fine, the possibilities of scams and fraud existing already in the "plastic economy" being currently foisted upon us are compounded in the world of Bitcoin. Fuck cards and "crypto currencies" PAY IN CASH. It's easier to understand.