Host of World Economic Forum: "Capitalism in its current form, has no place in the world around us."

Davos elites to seek reforms of 'outdated' capitalism.

"We have a general morality gap, we are over-leveraged, we have neglected to invest in the future, we have undermined social coherence, and we are in danger of completely losing the confidence of future generations," said Klaus Schwab, host and founder of the annual World Economic Forum.

"Solving problems in the context of outdated and crumbling models will only dig us deeper into the hole.  "We are in an era of profound change that urgently requires new ways of thinking instead of more business-as-usual," the 73-year-old said, adding that "capitalism in its current form, has no place in the world around us."

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Somebody's Watching You

ZeroHedge today reminded us of another reason to hold Bitcoins, with an article titled "Why 308,127,404 East Germans Americans Are Going To Get Hosed."

Highlights from the article:

"FinCEN is the executive agency tasked with ensuring that every US banker is an unpaid government spy through 'Suspicious Activity Reports'."

"Nearly 1.5 million Suspicious Activity Reports were filed across the US banking system in 2011, well over twice the number reported in 2004. On top of this, there were an additional -14.8 million- ‘currency transaction reports’ filed in 2011, a 6% jump over last year."

"A full 36 distinct federal law enforcement agencies requested information from FinCEN. And that doesn’t include state or local law enforcement."

"This is one reason why international diversification is so important – the likelihood of such collection and monitoring is greatly reduced when you bank overseas [TheBitcoinTrader: or move some of your savings into Bitcoin]."

"You don’t even need to be doing anything wrong (which is the case most of the time this happens) for one of these agencies to freeze your account ‘pending investigation’ with a simple phone call. Good luck getting it unfrozen."

"FinCEN also tracks the Report of Foreign Bank Account and Financial Accounts, commonly known as the FBAR. This form is required to be submitted by any US taxpayer with foreign financial accounts whose aggregate total exceeded $10,000 at any point during the year. In 2011, 618,134 US taxpayers filed an FBAR (which would have covered the calendar year 2010). This is more than a 100% increase over the filings just two years ago."

"It still leaves 308,127,404 Americans who have no backup plan, no insurance policy for their hard-earned savings. In other words, 99.8% of the population holds all of their money in an insolvent, corrupted, government-controlled, unsecured (though cleverly disguised) banking system."

Read the full article, here.

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Bitcoin User's Bank Account Hacked

A prominent member of the Bitcoin community had his bank account hacked, today.

After $500 was stolen from the account, his bank called him to report suspicious activity. Authorities believe his ATM card was likely cloned and his PIN recorded at a compromised ATM or merchant location.

"Thankfully they didn't take more," he remarked in an interview over Skype while asking to remain anonymous, as he uses his real name within the community.

"At least, with Bitcoin, the security of my account is completely within my own hands. It's up to me how secure I want it to be. When I transact with Bitcoin, I don't have to hand over any personal information or passwords that could compromise my account."

While there have been some high profile website hacks in the Bitcoin community, all related to "e-wallets" and exchanges, there have not been any reported for several months now, as website operators appear to have successfully closed the holes in their security.

One type of crime that has never been tied to a Bitcoin transaction, however, is identity theft. It has taken several years for Internet users to grow comfortable with the idea that they can provide all of their personal details and credit card information to a website, even though there have been many high profile database hacks, resulting in gigabytes of personal data entering the hands of criminals.

Bitcoin users never provide any personal information to a website, as transactions are essentially similar to using cash in the physical world. As a result, no Bitcoin merchant has ever been hacked, as there would be no useful information to obtain.

At the end of our interview, the Bitcoin user we spoke with remained on hold with the bank, "due to a high number of calls."

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IBM: "It's cheaper to have a cell phone than to open a bank account."

"Growing communities will be able to use mobile technology to better serve people with new solutions and business models such as mobile commerce..."

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The Bitcoin Bank

If you saw an ad for a bank like this, wouldn't you want to open an account?

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Open an account with The Bitcoin Bank today, and take advantage of the following features:

Consumers:

- Send any amount of money worldwide, to anyone, instantly for 1.5 cents;
- Shop online at any website without having to share your personal information;
- No monthly maintenance fees;
- Access your money from anywhere, anytime;
- No accidental overdrafts;
- No cash advance fees;
- Instantly updated transaction records;
- Send money to any organization without restrictions.

Merchants:

- No transaction fees;
- No chargebacks;
- Your money will never be held from you for any reason;
- No setup fees;
- Transactions will never be blocked.

The Bitcoin Bank is managed by the laws of mathematics, and will never be subject to government or corporate regulation. The Bitcoin Bank will not invest in risky assets or derivatives. It will always be 100% capitalized and does not operate under the principles of a fractional reserve system.

To get started, read our Simple Bitcoin Guide.

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It's All a Giant Pyramid Scheme

No, I'm not talking about Bitcoin.



Reposted from ZeroHedge.

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