U.S. bans transactions with Venezuela's digital currency
President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order barring any U.S.-based financial transactions involving Venezuela's new petro cryptocurrency, as U.S. officials warned that it was a "scam" by President Nicolas Maduro's government to further undermine democracy in the OPEC country.
"The 'petro' is a desperate effort by a corrupt regime to defraud international investors," a senior U.S. administration official told reporters, strongly warning that any transactions in the petro digital currency would violate U.S. sanctions. "Investing in the 'petro' should be viewed as directly supporting this dictatorship and its attempts to undermine the democratic order in Venezuela," the official added.
Trump's order bars "all transactions related to, provision of financing for, and other dealings in, by a United States person or within the United States, any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token," issued by Venezuela's government since Jan. 9, the White House said in a statement.
Also at the New York Times.
Previously: Enter the "Petro": Venezuela to Launch Oil-Backed Cryptocurrency
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday March 21 2018, @06:14PM (3 children)
How about crony capitalism?
But back to the point, here is the receipt described in details many years ago and mostly followed by every capitalists state:
subsidies
distribution of monopoly rights
workers rights
government-sponsored industrial espionage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Plan_of_the_English_Commerce [wikipedia.org]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 21 2018, @08:26PM
If you are using the Men-with-Guns to impose your will (and thereby funnel resources into the control of you cronies), then that cannot possibly be capitalism.
Why, then, do you insist on shoehorning the word "capitalism" in there? WHY?!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 21 2018, @08:48PM (1 child)
And I don't agree on those traits as being common to capitalist systems. For example, the great prevalence of anti-trust laws indicates to me instead a firm bias against monopoly formation. Subsidies, tariffs, and other forms of protectionism have gone down greatly with the advent of the global free trade movement. It's interesting how the originator of the list claiming that subsidies are a part of capitalist systems happens to be decrying the capitalist movement that aims to greatly reduce those barriers to trade.
Worker rights is a dubious addition to this list. Most countries transition to a capitalist system via a phase with low worker rights (US, Europe, Japan, China, etc).
As to government industrial espionage? So what? It's an arm's race. Once one side does it, everyone has to participate just to defend themselves.
It's worth noting also that absolutely none of these are particular to capitalist systems and were common to other sorts of organizations in the past.
I currently can't find a full length PDF of Defoe's book, but I bet it has something to say about immigration restriction, common written language, and perhaps even class or ethnic segregation. It also describes a human system - does that mean that extraterrestrial aliens can't possibly have a capitalist system? Just because one sees traits (real or imagined) doesn't mean that these are traits of capitalism.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday March 21 2018, @11:10PM
Well, I have read the book. It has many more plan points that are really controversial nowadays, but they fit very well with what say China, Korea and Russia are doing.
Another example... the US had the highest tariffs in the world while in developing stage (and France had the lowest, which ended badly - revolutions and such)
The bottom line of my capitalists believes is that only a very rich country can afford freedom. One that is behind has to be limit it. Even more, freedom gives an advantage to a more developed country.
Here is a good summary of the view https://www.amazon.com/Kicking-Away-Ladder-Development-Perspective/dp/1843310279 [amazon.com]
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.