Jeffrey Tucker for BWmag
Barbara Messer spoke to Jeffrey Tucker
-Jeffrey what is your general view of current economy, sources of crisis, demise of dollar, China proposals to establish gold parity standard currency, possible Bretton-Woods II schemes?
Jeffrey: Everything that is wrong with the current economic environment is caused by government and nothing else. The great tragedy of the 21st century is that the vast growth of leviathan has swallowed up what should have been extraordinary gains in income and general prosperity flowing from unprecedented technological innovation. Instead of seeing this innovation turn to social progress, economic growth has barely kept up with the rising population, and this is due mainly to massive debt, high taxes, regulatory regimentation, and a broken system of money and banking. I don’t expect any kind of positive reform to come from government. All progress will continue to flow from private efforts to get around this huge problem called government.
- What is the place of Bitcoin and other crypto-currencies in the global system; is it a short-term novelty, or serious threat to current monetary systems?
Jeffrey: I see cyrptocurrencies as more of an opportunity than a threat. To the shock and amazement of nearly every observer, the protocol of the blockchain, plus cryptography, has reinvented money and brought it into the 21st century, and done so through purely private efforts. That’s rather amazing. The payment system is vastly superior and inarguably so. Bitcoin could easily become a new money and payment system for the entire world. It could eventually replace all national monies but not any time soon because government will resist and resist. Governments will even attempt to stop cryptocurrency -- some have already tried -- but they cannot succeed over the long term. There so much at stake here. Adopting a pure laissez faire policy on these innovations could unleash human energy all over the world as the excluded sectors of the world are included thanks to the peer-to-peer protocol. In general, I agree with those who say that the blockchain is the great innovation of the 21st century.
- What are in your opinion ways of Bitcoin promotion among real-life businesses?
Jeffrey: I just love these efforts to get your local restaurants and bars accepting Bitcoin. It is so easy thanks to applications written by Coinbase and Bitpay. I was just at a bar yesterday and absolutely loved paying for my drinks with Bitcoin. It is always a kick, and the owners of these establishments are so thrilled with the way it works. By accepting Bitcoin, too, they earn a vast fan base among a very smart group of dedicated users. Oh, also, they save 3-4% on all transactions. The only real reservation I can detect is that people are uncertain how governments and banks are going to respond. Once again, you see how governments are dragging down innovation and slowing down the future.
- Jeffrey as you know, BitcoinWoman magazine is the first international bitcoinmagazine for women, at the moment it is only in English but soon we start with Russian online edition and Swedish, at the next stage. As a man, what do you think about our initiative?
Jeffrey: I think it’s just thrilling.
When I put together a crypto conference last year, I set out to bring in women’s voices and took the step of talking several women intellectuals in the liberty space through setting up wallets and using Bitcoin. These efforts have paid off in a huge way. I see people like Amanda Billyrock and Cathy Reisenwitz doing very hgh level journalism on this topic, and it’s great. Sometimes I sense that women in the liberty space feel themselves drawn to but then eventually trapped by writing about “women’s issues” like feminism, abortion, pornography, and the like, and, while those are important, they surely should not fully define the scope of issues on which women are thinking and writing. We need women’s voices to contribute to the whole project of human liberty, and liberating the money needs to be part of that.
- As you noticed we promote different approach than only talking about technical matters of cryptocurrency. We pay extra attention to details, that women might note when considering getting more involved in the Bitcoin community. Is it in your opinion a good way to make Bitcoin more attractive to them?
Jeffrey: The least-noticed feature of Bitcoin is how it smashes through barriers erected by financial and banking cartels and allows for a more inclusive economic and financial system. This strikes me as a feature that women can speak to with special persuasive power simply because for many centuries women were predominantly excluded. For example, contracts, credit access, inheritance, and even property ownership had long been barred by law and tradition. In the developing world today, women are often facing challenges of exclusion and exploitation not unlike they faced in the 18th and 19th century in the developed world. So Bitcoin offers the hope of true empowerment for everyone, especially those historically marginalized and barred from access to capital and trade. Emphasizing these points could make Bitcoin more attractive to women.
- Do you think that women deserve a source of information adequate to their perception of reality or they don't need it?
Jeffrey: Oh they certainly do. My own emphasis in writing in this space has been more on the human side of cryptocurrency. To the extent that women writers and editors who are more closely in touch with this tactile and real-world aspect of Bitcoin, that is a huge contribution. In the end, Bitcoin is non-discriminatory as regards sex. Given the history and cultural legacy of national monetary systems, I don’t think one can say the same about government currency.
- It is well known truth, that men know absolutely nothing about women :) however maybe you have some faint ideas what else can attract them to bitcoin and other cryptos?
Jeffrey: I was developing a general theory the other day in response to something I had begun to notice. Many women seem to be very excited about Dogecoin and that this rather than Bitcoin seems to have attracted women. This observation is entirely anecdotal and non determinative. However, there might be something to this. I look forward to the time when cryptocurrency taps more deeply into our desire for a warmer and more wonderful sense of life. Dogecoin is an example of this. This subject doesn’t always need to be about code and applications and protocols. It can also be about charm, humor, love, and social progress generally. Is that sensibility a key to attracting more women to this space? Possibly. But it is also a key to drawing more people in general to the possibilities of private currency and payment systems.
Thank you very much Jeffrey for your kind support and for sharing with the beautiful part of population your opinions and views.
Barbara Messer
BITCOINWOMANmagazine
Jeffrey A. Tucker is Chief Liberty Officer of Liberty.me, Distinguished Fellow of FEE, head of LFB.org, and founder of CryptoCurrencyCon.com.
http://liberty.me/
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cp_27%3AJeffrey+A.+Tucker&sort=relevancerank&ie=UTF8&qid=1391084362
https://www.youtube.com/user/jatucker321
http://lfb.org/today/author/jeffreytucker/