The coming Occupy Wall St
George @_overflow__
At the bottom of “The Great Recession” Occupy Wall St. was born. Springing from a small collection of angry young people that felt left behind in all the bank bailouts was the boil over point for frustrated young people that couldn’t make sense of the world. The movement truly inspired many and sparked similar movements across the country and world. It captivated the attention of everyday people as they watched passionate young people commit themselves to occupying the streets and sidewalks outside of the New York Stock Exchange. The movement found a target easy to hate, the wealthy. It took place in real time and space. Though social media helped spark the short-lived movement, it was still young. Many on-lookers across the country, though sympathetic, still trusted institutions like universities, news agencies, and government narratives.
The problem is Occupy Wall St. was not a solution nor a great pinpoint of the cause of the problem. The movement couldn’t articulate what caused the problem or how to fix it. In fact it ended with bizarre lists of socialist demands that never got formalized. (Side note: interestingly one of the demands was fair elections on paper ballots.)
Bitcoin debuted within the Occupy Wall St. movement for the first time as a protest counter currency. Hundreds of Bitcoin were donated from all over the world to support the protests. This of course would not be the last time Bitcoin was used as the currency of protest. In almost every major protest movement since, Bitcoin has played a role in supporting protesters, most notably in the Canadian Truckers Protest.
In the end Occupy Wall St. was a signal and a reaction. The wealth gap was growing and young people felt it. Upward mobility had been increasingly getting steeper and they were there to let their voices be heard. Though Occupy Wall St. failed in its attempt to bring change, we can look back at it as a tremor of the coming earthquake.
The truth is the problem was and is much bigger than Wall St. It’s bigger than a single institution. These problems unite us more than divide us. Government spending, government debt, and centralized monetary expansion – these things created banks the way they are and stock markets the way they are. Neither socialism nor capitalism fix these. Neither Democrats nor Republicans fix these.
Our culture of political power over time created a system that incentives debt spending and monetary expansion. Our leaders are drunk and addicted to government spending. It doesn’t matter what party is in power; they can’t stop spending or everything breaks.
There is a pending recession brewing. During the ‘08 bust the market started feeling the hit in March when Bear Stearns went under. All the leaders of our institutions say “Don’t panic. It’s fine.” And the summer of 2008 was fine until September of that year. The 3 quarter numbers came out and everyone realized that huge too-big-to-fail banks were insolvent. The Federal Reserve had to bail out the big banks (and then the auto industry for some reason).
Our new ‘08 moment is here. We are in the middle of the fastest interest rate hikes in human history in order to slow down new money creation. This is making it difficult for everyday Americans to buy a house or get a loan on a car. At the same time the Federal Government is spending money faster than any time in history. The Government has to issue new debt to be able to get money to spend so the FED (Federal Reserve) buys that debt by creating new money. New money creates inflation. It’s not transitory, it’s not supply chain issues, it’s not Russia, or any other lie our elected officials are telling us. It is the effects of zero reserve banking and over extended debt spending from a money drunk government.
The next Occupy Wall St. type movement will be far bigger than the last. People will rise up – young men and women being cut out of the housing market, experiencing unaffordable schooling, and suffering from crippling inflation. This is happening across ideological lines. The new Occupy Wall St. is one spark away. There is a lot of potential for it to be different. My guess is it will have clearer messaging and a broader target. The divide of us vs them will be bigger. There will be fewer spectators. Everyone will be affected in one way or another.
As debt increases both for the everyday American and the government, the government will be forced to devalue the currency. This will devalue debt. Getting a loan will be difficult at best. Government debt will no longer be desirable. US Dollars from all over the world will be flooding back home as they will no longer be looked at as a good store of value.
There is a coming moment where the next “Occupy” movement will have far less spectators. But this time it will be different. Before it was led by socialist that hated capitalism and weren’t sure what they were asking for. Bitcoiners are in the position to add clarity, leadership and solutions within the uprising. Armed with heads full of Austrian Economics, a clear understanding of fractional reserve banking, and the ability to pinpoint those that benefit from the Cantillon effect with considerable accuracy.
There are 5 major roles that Bitcoiners MUST take on in the coming movement:
1. Bitcoiners will have to win over those with socialist indoctrination.
Bitcoiners have often found themselves as a misunderstood and isolated community. None of our normie friends want to hear about the Creature from Jekyll Island. When push comes to shove almost all of our peers look to the government for intervention of some sort. They would expect the government to fix the problem it created. The temptation of the government will be to make people happy by buying them off with social programs. Bitcoiners must be clear and sober that government spending is the problem and it can’t print its way out of inflation or debt.
2. Bitcoiners will have to play the role of professor.
Each one of us will have to put to use the 1,000 hours of studying Bitcoin to catch people up: the economic principles of Bitcoin, how to obtain Bitcoin from a Bitcoin only company, cold storage for savings, and lightning for spending.
3. Bitcoiners will have to organize quickly.
We have to know what reform we are demanding. There will be many that don’t see Bitcoin or don’t trust Bitcoin. That is OK. We can still help shape the narrative of ending the Fed and demanding a separation of state and money. If and when protests emerge, we can learn from the playbooks of past movements on how Bitcoin was collected, distributed, and taught.
4. Bitcoiners will have to unite.
Bitcoiners love to fight. In bear markets we fight everyone including ourselves. This will have to pause. Bitcoiners will have to unify around our common cause of bringing monetary reform, or if needed monetary revolution.
5. Bitcoiners will have to speak the language of the people.
Bitcoiners have unique nomenclatures that have been cultivated from being in our own orange-pilled world for so long. We will need to be aware that the language we use will have to change to speak to the everyday man and woman.
The world around us could be changing soon. Things never happen in the way we think they are going to happen, but strong handed, low time preference Bitcoiners are prepared for any scenario.
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Note from Stackchain Magazine: No Bitcoin (or inferior monies) were exchanged for this article. We didn’t even have to threaten to shave off his beard and make him eat it. If you enjoyed this article by George you can zap a brother at goldstingray2@primal.net. I’ve never seen a gold stingray.