{"id":28442,"date":"2022-04-21T10:14:35","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T14:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/?p=28442"},"modified":"2022-04-22T08:22:22","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T12:22:22","slug":"poilievres-wacky-quacky-economics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ianchadwick.com\/blog\/poilievres-wacky-quacky-economics\/","title":{"rendered":"Poilievre’s Wacky, Quacky Economics"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Poilievre\"<\/a>
\nPierre Poilievre \u2014 aka Skippy \u2014 loves cryptocurrency and wants to make Canada the world’s crypto capital. Crypto is a computing process, not a product, it’s well outside the capabilities of individual computer systems to “mine” so it is controlled by large crypto-mining farms owned by corporate interests, using vast amounts of energy to produce numbers (one estimate suggests crypto miners spend more than $1 billion monthly on energy costs).<\/p>\n

In other words, crypto is a corporate service that produces no products or benefits, but has been determined by its investors to have value.<\/p>\n

Back in February, Skippy was interviewed on a podcast by Robert Breedlove, a far-right\/libertarian Bitcoin trader who, according to PressProgress<\/a>, “has promoted COVID-19 conspiracies and compared central banking policies to slavery and Nazi Germany.”*<\/strong><\/span> The story added:<\/p>\n

Poilievre has previously disclosed that he is a cryptocurrency investor and insisted that Bitcoin should work to undermine the Canadian government\u2019s currency \u201cmonopoly.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Calling on a foreign agency to undermine the national currency? That sounds ominously treasonous. Little wonder Skippy supported the truckers’ insurrection convoy in January. And that’s why, I suppose, Skippy has also turned to “Bitcoin guru and convoy backer” Greg Foss<\/a> for investment advice. Foss, who was one of the organizers of the HonkHonk campaign to finance the truckers’ insurrection, told The Star he hopes Poilievre considers him his friend. The Star story<\/a> also noted (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

The HonkHonk fundraiser for the \u201cFreedom Convoy\u201d of truckers and supporters protesting COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates was launched Feb. 2 \u2014 two days before the original GoFundMe campaign, which raised more than $10 million, was shut down following concerns raised by Ottawa police.
\nThe fundraiser has a companion blog, which outlines how Canada\u2019s current form of government should be replaced with \u201celder councils\u201d that hold lying politicians to account and that the \u201clegacy media\u201d needs to be \u201celiminated.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another member of the HonkHonk group spoke at a Canada Unity news conference, claiming, “Bitcoin would free people from the \u201cshackles\u201d of the \u201clegacy finance system, and fundraising websites like GoFundMe, which present \u201ccritical vulnerability through censorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which points to one reason cryptocurrencies are popular for money laundering and crime: they can escape that “censorship” that police and security agencies might use to stop them.<\/p>\n

In March, a CBC story<\/a> said Skippy boasted that “a government led by him would do more to normalize cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum in Canada to “decentralize” the economy and reduce the influence of central bankers.” The story also noted,<\/p>\n

Poilievre said that over the course\u00a0 of the COVID-19 crisis the Bank of Canada created “$400 billion in cash out of thin air” through its policy of quantitative easing \u2014 a development he blames for inflation hitting a 30-year high and housing prices reaching all-time record levels.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The CBC clarified, however, that this wasn’t true:<\/p>\n

As a number of other central banks\u00a0did during the Great Recession, the Bank of Canada\u00a0has embraced quantitative easing over the past two years\u00a0to boost lending and spending during a time of financial panic. That policy ended in October 2021.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Skippy, however, added another bit of his usual libertarian twaddle:<\/p>\n

Government is ruining the Canadian dollar, so Canadians should have the freedom to use other money, such as bitcoin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Skippy said to his audience:<\/p>\n

Canada needs less financial control for politicians and bankers and more financial freedom for the people. That includes freedom to own and use crypto, tokens, smart contracts and decentralized finance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He seems to think that the government doesn’t allow Canadians to buy and use cryptocurrencies, although Skippy himself has bought them and even used Bitcoin to pay for his lunch at the shop where he made these disingenuous comments.<\/p>\n

And then he made the gobsmacking prediction that crypto would “let Canadians opt-out of inflation with the ability to opt-in to crypto currencies.” What sort of fantasy world does Skippy live in?<\/p>\n