The FTX scam, Sam Bankman-Fried, the Clintons and the Democrats

By then it was more than a generation removed from the Bolshevik revolution and there had been some experimentation with the economy including some market liberalization under the Lenin. That said it continued the command economy.

A lot of FDR did didnt work and the economy didn’t really fully recover until after the War and then the US benefited from most of its international competitors being devastated. At the same time though even before the war the US didn’t face the same about of compatible pressures. It’s ver different now with a global economy and an economy even as controlled as FDR’s would have trouble.

Still there were very wealthy people then too who also did engage in altruism.

 

FDR's programs made huge improvements. It was when Republicans in Congress dialed back his programs that the improvements weren't sustained. His ideas were essential to the discovery.

Of course war production would be a huge boost. But that doesn't change the success of FDR's programs.

 

That's a head scratcher. I would've expected either party to have pulled out already

 

We've had this exact discussion before.

I already know you don't see the point despite the hundreds of posts explaining the purposes from dozens of people in the various bitcoin threads.

Rather than rehash all that, here's the most concise summary I've seen for the primary utility.

https://v.redd.it/6j2q8lx3eq1a1

 

So far the most useful application of the block chain in human society is the pump and dump.

The only people I've met in real life that are addicted to crypto are the type of people who call themselves entrepreneurs. You know, those type of people. The type of people with no discernible skills besides the belief in themselves that they are entrepreneurs.

 

As with most innovations/discoveries, the negative applications usually come before the positive ones.

The nuclear bomb came before nuclear energy. Most people's introduction to the internet was as a black market. Many medicines and medical therapies were created or discovered in tandem to a means to inflict harm on others. And on and on.

Also, you don't need a blockchain to create a pump and dump scheme. Fraud is everywhere and most prevalent where greed and ignorance converge. That's not a bitcoin/crypto problem, it's a human/time problem.

Bitcoin and blockchain are already a tremendous force for good in the world. If you choose to focus on the negative edge cases or abuses carried out by bad actors that have nothing to do with Bitcoin itself, that's your own prerogative.

 

Is it possible it was a scheduled and since forgotten about Tweet?

 

Congress members tried to stop the SEC’s inquiry into FTX

…

Some of the “Blockchain Eight,” as the Prospect termed them in March, have benefited from crypto largesse. Five of the eight members received campaign donations from FTX employees, ranging from $2,900 to $11,600. Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC), one of the signatories, received half a million dollars in support from a Super PAC created by FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame.

More consequentially, Emmer was the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm for House Republicans, this year. The NRCC’s associated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, received $2.75 million from FTX in the 2022 cycle; $2 million from Salame in late September, and $750,000 from the company’s political action committee.

That money helped House Republicans win the majority in 2022. Though FTX has been portrayed as a Democratic firm, thanks to the high profile of former co-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the company sprinkled around campaign donations fairly evenly, with a shade over 50 percent going directly to congressional Republicans and a shade under 50 percent to Democrats this cycle.

…






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Why we should get money out of politic... and yes, for the 100th time, FTX try to gain favors from both sides.

But that title!... The article raises a reasonable question but has no data backing up the claim that "Congress members tried to stop the SEC's inquiry into FTX".

"Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), whom the Republican caucus just elected as majority whip, the number three position in the House GOP leadership, led the letter. In a contemporaneous Twitter thread, Emmer wrote: “My office has received numerous tips from crypto and blockchain firms that SEC Chair @GaryGensler’s information reporting ‘requests’ to the crypto community are overburdensome, don’t feel particularly … voluntary … and are stifling innovation.”

We now know that FTX was one of those firms receiving information requests from the SEC, about the very activities that have brought down the firm. This raises the question of whether Emmer and the other congressmembers were acting on behalf of FTX (which has been credibly accused of snatching customer money to make risky bets) to try to chill an ongoing investigation from an independent regulatory and law enforcement agency."​

 

Good point. It’s one of those titles that is literally true, but is designed to leave a certain impression that isn’t fully backed up by the content of the article.

 

My understanding of FDR's programs were their benefit was much more social in that job programs like WPA took unemployed people that could've been restive and lead to social instability and just kept them occupied. The actual economic benefit of those programs was questionable.

 

I'm sure we will find more GOP and Democrat donations from all the FTX lieutenants, but it's unsurprising that total donations split between both parties.

 

That was certainly part of it. And I would argue a byproduct of it also helped the economy.

But there were direct economic effects as well. This is only a partial list.

• The Agricultural Adjustment Act ended up doubling crop prices. At this time America had a Agricultural segment of the economy.
• Tennessee Valley Authority provided electricity to rural areas which was HUGE.
• Glass Steagall Banking separated investment and retail banking
• Civil Works Administration created thousands of construction jobs
• Security Exchange Act
• Rural Electrification Act
• Social Security

The list goes on and on. The cutback to some of the New Deal programs pushed the nation backwards in the Depression.

This website lists many of the programs.
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/fdr-and-the-new-deal-programs-timeline-did-it-work-3305598

It increased the debt, but there were surpluses in 1929, 1930, 1931 and rising unemployment as the Depression was getting started in earnest.

 

My question is how is he still alive?

 

Such as?

 

*dumbocrats