The tragedy of poverty is this…

–It’s knowing you’ll always be poor no matter what you do, that things will never, EVER, get better (at least not for you. Maybe for someone else, but not for you.) Knowing that poverty is forever… You’ll always be poor, no matter how hard you work, no matter how positive your attitude, no matter how well-written your resume, no matter how great your grade-point average in school, the system is set up to make sure that you will fail. And everyone around you is working hard to make sure you fail. Because that’s just how it is.

That’s the tragedy.

(And I’m going to experiment with writing a short…ehem…post here. Is it possible? Even this parenthetical explanation has become too long…)
Okay, here we go…

The tragedy is not being hungry, poor or even homeless. We’ve all had those types of experiences. Haven’t you ever been really, really hungry? Maybe it’s only 9:30 a.m. and your lunch break isn’t until 12:30 p.m. There’s no vending machine in sight, and you didn’t pack a lunch. Your boss is a stickler and won’t let you leave your desk until exactly 12:30 p.m. What to do? Well, you’ll suffer until 12:30. But maybe you’ll get absorbed in your work and forget all about it because, after all, you know you’ll get a chance to eat. You’ll just have to wait a few hours. Sure, it’s uncomfortable, perhaps even painful if you’re super hungry, but in a few short hours you’ll go out and buy a sandwich, sit down to eat and all will be well. In fact, you may even feel like you’re in heaven. The prolonged hunger may give you a better feeling once you do eat.

Being deprived for a short period of time can cause us to feel incredibly grateful for what little we have and can enhance our feelings of well being once our hunger is satisfied. Getting a chance to eat when we’re hungry feels good. But getting a chance to eat after we’ve been ravenously hungry for hours–deprived of but longing for food, our stomach growling like an uncaged grizzly and stabbing us with pangs of hunger–feels absolutely wonderful! Food might seem like a miracle. We may even be tempted to wrap our arms around the chef and give him/her a great big hug and kiss… Whew, I finally get to eat! Thank you for filling my aching stomach!

So the tragedy of poverty is not the experience in and of itself. It’s not so tragic to be hungry, thirsty or even homeless and unloved–as long as it’s temporary and solutions exist. We’ve all experienced deprivation. And sometimes the experience can make us stronger. Sometimes the experience makes us better people, causing us to develop empathy and compassion for those who are less fortunate. Even the wealthy experience poverty on occasion. (Some think they’re loved but are only loved for their money or celebrity status–so the cruel, sick joke is on them. They aren’t loved at all. Some think they’re unloved but are loved by secret admirers too timid or shy to tell them they’re loved. Or perhaps they aren’t open to accepting and valuing the love, so they can’t receive it. The love is there but they’ll never feel it. That is also tragic in its own way. Some people are wealthy financially but are spiritually and emotionally poor.)

But the tragedy of poverty is knowing it’ll never end. And that is what makes poor people crazy. Knowing that you’ll always be poor no matter what you do, that the system is set up to make sure you’ll fail, that because you weren’t born with money, connections, the “right” race or gender, etc., you’ll never succeed.

So let me ask you this.

What would YOU do if you were suffering and knew that it would never end, that it’s permanent, there’s no hope for a better life. You’ll always suffer no matter what you do?

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Bitcoin Blues… Are they trying to kill Bitcoin?

In case you don’t know, Bitcoin is an online, open source currency. It allows anonymity and freedom from government intervention (although there’s speculation that Germany might have plans to regulate it.)  http://www.cnbc.com/id/100971898   It also provides unwelcome competition for some of our biggest banks. Needless to say, some people, particularly in some parts of the world, don’t like Bitcoin because it is currency that’s difficult for governments, and those with power in general, to control. Money is power in our society, and Bitcoin is not really money in the traditional sense of the word.  It’s a form of currency accessible to the masses and an alternative to standard currency.  One might say that Bitcoin creates a new way for powerless people to access financial power.

The concept of alternative currency is an interesting idea and some people are still only just learning about it…   More info at the web sites below…

http://www.WeUseCoins.com

http://www.BitCoin.com
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/08/24/138673630/what-is-bitcoin

But, as I said, some people don’t like Bitcoin. Nope, they don’t like it at all. It doesn’t serve their best interests…  Knowing this, I was a bit startled when I learned that a Bitcoin exchange CEO, Autumn Radtke, was found dead under mysterious circumstances. :

http://nypost.com/2014/03/05/bitcoin-firm-ceo-found-dead-in-suspected-suicide/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2573863/Bitcoin-exchange-CEO-dead-home-suspected-suicide-age-28.html

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101468694

Uh, yes, another “suicide” on the part of someone attempting to change the world for the better while bravely going against what some wealthy, powerful, influential peeps want her to do… Not that I think Ms. Radtke was bumped off or anything. Nah, governments don’t bump off activists–especially here in the USA ’cause we’re so lucky that we have freedom of speech here in the USA. We have, after all, a government by and for the people–all the people, rich and poor. Yep, we’re a “democracy” over here in the USA.

(Hey, you in the corner, stop your snickering. I’m not joking over here. The USA is a bastion of freedom and liberty. USA! USA! USA! USSA!  Gosh, I’m so proud of being American. I’m so lucky that I’m an American. Those people in other countries, like Denmark and Sweden, for example, don’t know how bad they have it. It’s great here in the USSA. Stop laughing. I’m not joking. I’m telling you this country is GREAT! And I LOVE IT! So please, put the gun down, Mr. Homeland Security-NSA-Patriot Act Protector, sir. Look, I wrote what you asked me to write on my blog. I didn’t write that other thing, you know, that other thing. That thing you told me not to write–I didn’t write it. Put the gun down. If you shoot me now, it’ll be obvious to the…the… No, I’m not suicidal. Not any more than usual, that is… Please, put the gun down!

And so the man in black put down his gun and left with a sneer. He is in search of another blogger, one with a much bigger platform. But he’ll be back. They always come back. But she’ll be ready with a watered-down, noncontroversial blog post next time. Next time, she’ll write about pizza and how much homeless people like pizza. Yes, that’s it. Homeless people like pizza but a lot of pizza shops won’t let homeless people inside. What to do?  Well, you’ll just have to stay tuned…)

Okay, now that guy’s gone, so I can return to my original post.

Ms. Radtke was found dead on Feb. 28th, nearly a week ago, and the cause of death is very mysterious. The fact that it is only just now being reported, nearly a week later, seems a little odd to me too. But what do I know? No matter which news report you look at, it all looks pretty spooky. CNBC says she died “under mysterious circumstances.”  The report adds there have been a “rash of suicides in the financial industry…”  The NY Post puts the word “suicide” in quotes, pending the results of toxicology tests.

Around the time of Ms. Radtke’s “suicide,” some strange events have occurred.  According to the Daily Mail, Radtke was living in Singapore, having decided to base herself in South East Asia where there was a lot of government resistance to Bitcoin, particularly in China and Vietnam.

And coincidentally, Ms. Radtke’s death follows a collapse of Mt Gox and the disappearance of millions of dollars, apparently stolen from Bitcoin entities.  Was this all due to computer hacking? Who was doing the hacking?

Also coincidentally, just following Ms. Radtke’s death is the death of Flexcoin, a bitcoin bank that just closed down due to hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins that were stolen from it. Apparently, this just happened yesterday.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101463888

Even more coincidentally, Ms. Radtke’s death follows the resignation of Mark Karpeles (who was CEO of Mt. Gox in Tokyo and who did not commit suicide but has received death threats), from the board of directors of the Bitcoin Foundation of which he was a founding member.  This happened less than two weeks ago.

Additionally coincidentally, Charlie Shrem, the CEO of BitInstant, a Bitcoin exchange, was arrested and charged with money laundering. That happened less than two months ago.

http://www.businessinsider.com/report-ceo-of-major-bitcoin-exchange-arrested-2014-1

http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/27/technology/security/bitcoin-arrest/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101366511

But there are so many coincidences… All just coincidences.  It just happens that political activists and people who want to make the world a better place for everyone–rich and poor, people who want to create “a level playing field” as they say, people who want to democratize things, just happen to die young.  American history bears me out on this.

Perhaps we should rephrase the lyrics to that old country song, “Mammas, don’t let your babies grow up to be activists.”

Now, can we get Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to accompany the Chipmunks and sing these new and improved lyrics–updated for modern times? Or will they be too afraid, like everyone else (except the ones who commit “suicide”) to challenge the status quo?

http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/17779/is-someone-trying-to-kill-bitcoin

http://markmaunder.com/2013/12/05/banks-declaring-war-on-bitcoin/