Open Thread

What’s on your mind?

Comments

[Kazinski]

Somewhat of a bizzare exchange on Capital Hill where Brad Sherman asked Secretary Bessent had any authority to launch "bailout bitcoin".

Bessent was obviously surprised by the very idea of the Government bailing out bitcoin, both as to how they would do it and why. Its worth noting that while bitcoin is down 15% so far this year its a volatile " asset, which has no intrinsic value. Nor would there be any justification for the government to act now when they stood by idlely and 100s of thousands of Americans saw their Beanie Baby asset values collapse to zero 25 years ago.

"In a heated back-and-forth during a House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, Bessent was asked if the US Treasury had the authority to buy bitcoin or other cryptos.

"I do not have the authority to do that, and as chair of FSOC, I do not have that authority," Bessent stated."

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-sinks-after-treasury-secretary-bessent-says-us-government-cant-tell-banks-to-bail-out-crypto-195504406.html

Bessent did note that while no taxpayer dollars have been invested in bitcoin or any other crypto currencies the government does hold 20-40 billion in bitcoin they have seized in various criminal cases over the past decade or so, and expect to continue to hold those assets. Probably a good idea, while there is no need, or even a case, for a bitcoin bailout, there is no need to take a dump on the market either.

[Martinned]

"I do not have the authority to do that, and as chair of FSOC, I do not have that authority," Bessent stated."

Sure, but what about Trumpcoin or MelaniaCoin?

Bessent did note that while no taxpayer dollars have been invested in bitcoin or any other crypto currencies the government does hold 20-40 billion in bitcoin they have seized in various criminal cases over the past decade or so, and expect to continue to hold those assets. Probably a good idea

How do you figure? Why not sell that stuff off for the highest possible price? (Which might, indeed, mean spacing out the divestment in order to avoid excess short-term supply in the market, but surely it should be possible to sell up to 5,000 bitcoin ($350mln) per day without too much trouble?

https://data.bitcoinity.org/markets/volume/30d?c=e&t=b

[Commenter_XY]

Eurotrash...Who are you to talk? Your country is about to tax unrealized gains in a lame attempt to confiscate the wealth of your highest taxpaying citizens.

Watch them leave.

[Martinned]

We have taxed unrealised gains for literally decades. I see absolutely no reason why that would be bad. From the 1970s to the 1990s we had a 2% to (later) 1.2% wealth tax, and since the 1990s we've had income tax applied to an assumed return on wealth, which is basically the same. (Initially a 30% tax on a 4% assumed return, which is equivalent to a 1.2% tax.) As an economist, I'd argue that such a tax is better than a tax on realised gains, because it doesn't distort people's decisions around what to invest in and when/how to realise gains.

Even my municipal taxes are a fixed percentage of the assessed value of my home, and therefore also partly a tax on unrealised gain.

What's the problem?

[TwelveInchPianist]

So you subsidize rich people's spending?

[Brett Bellmore]

ALL taxes distort people's decisions around what to invest in. Taxing unrealized gains just distorts them differently.

So, question: If this year an asset appreciates by 100%, and I pay a tax on the unrealized gain, and next year it depreciates by 50%, do I get the tax refunded?

[Michael P]

Jaja, no, you get to be grateful that the jackbooted eurocrats let you live in spite of being such a capitalist.

[Martinned]

ALL taxes distort people's decisions around what to invest in. Taxing unrealized gains just distorts them differently.

Exactly. The goal is (in economic theory) to set the rules in such a way as to minimise the deadweight loss due to taxation, which simplifies to "tax in a way that you influence people's decisions as little as possibe". Hence a tax on land value is better than a tax on the value of the entire property, for example. (But harder to administer, obviously.)

[Malika la Maize]

My favorite Bessent story:

Bessent lashed out at Pulte in an expletive-laden diatribe. The Treasury secretary had heard from several people that the Federal Housing Finance Agency director had been badmouthing him to Trump, a person close to him said. He wasn’t about to engage in chit-chat as if nothing was amiss.

“Why the fuck are you talking to the president about me? Fuck you,” Bessent told Pulte. “I’m gonna punch you in your fucking face.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/09/08/scott-bessent-bill-pulte-blowup-00549956

[Mr. Bumble]

Great story. Turns you on when a gay guy talks tough?

[Malika la Maize]

That’s where your mind went with that? You got some kink Bumble.

[Kazinski]

I arrived in today and I was immediately gratified to find out White privilege works here too. One of the requirements for entry for foreigners where I am to have a return ticket to leave within a reasonable time. I did not have a return ticket because I don't have any plans to return to the USA anytime soon,

So my wife was expecting I would have trouble when she saw a group of Chinese being denied entry when clearing customs because they didn't have return tickets, and told me I should have gotten one.

They didn't even ask me when I was leaving, or if I had a return ticket or when I planned to go back. To be sure I will probably have to go on a side trip to another country within 90 days and then return if I want to, because that's as long as you can renew a tourist visa here, but that's fine, there are a lot of interesting side trips I could take.

[Commenter_XY]

You are safe. That is what matters.

[Kazinski]

And why wouldn't I bee safe.

The last 15 years its been pretty routine for me to spend at least a month a year overseas, and as long as 6 months, although the last time was just a week in 2024 when I had to cut my trip short when my mother got sick. I really can't think of anyplace where I felt unsafe, well other than walking down the streets of Phuket when business is slow and a horde of desperate ladyboys think I need a massage.

But the last long trip I had was all the way back 2021-22 when I was overseas Nov-April spread over 7 countries from SE Asia to the Balkans.

[hobie]

What harm could a massage by a ladyboy have? You might even get a 'happy ending' out of it.

[Mr. Bumble]

Has that been your experience?

[Commenter_XY]

Brad Karp, former chairman of Paul Weiss....another sick predator named in the Epstein files. He should be shunned from society.

[hobie]

Agreed. According to the emails, Mr. Karp had several social interactions with Epstein and wrote messages of praise to him many times (sounds familiar).

But I wish it wasn't just he that quit. The whole law firm should quit as well. That it capitulated to Trump instead of standing up for its clients and for its own constitutional right to represent who it pleases, is damning. A law firm that cannot even zealously defend itself, should be considered incapable of zealously representing its clients.

[Commenter_XY]

I won't be sad if PW goes down, Arthur.

[hobie]

Do I ever use 'clinger' or 'disaffected'? No.

[Riva]

Regarding the democrat’s fixation on everything Epstein, interspersed with promoting the nullification of federal law (old habits), the Epstein obsession is essentially more projection. Just like the Russian collusion fraud where Hillary had a Russian problem, not president Trump, now Democrats have an Epstein problem, not President Trump. President Trump threw his ass out of Mar a Lago. Epstein hated President Trump. The same shit with different players.

[Sarcastr0]

The 'Trump and Epstein were enemies actually' can only come from someone too pickled to check actual reporting.

Which checks out - Riva doesn't read the posts he replies to even. He stops once a phrase or word triggers him. Like a pre-AI bot might.

[Riva]

And in combination with projection, it should be noted that they love personal attacks to distract from issues. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. If you need another example, ask the parrot rent-a-troll below. Go Democrats!

[Malika la Maize]

Who originally had the fixation on all things Epstein? Bot’s programming doesn’t go back far!

[Martinned]

Online torts is usually an issue that comes up here in the context of (alleged) online defamation, but of course there are many kinds of unlawful acts that can take place online and that might give rise to liability. I think in the past I've argued that some sort of multilateral convention to reduce the number of places where an online company can be sued, but for now I'm not holding my breath.

Anyway, the lex loci delicti for a competition law suit against Apple in relation to its app store is, basically, any country where Apple has an app store: https://the-platform-law.com/2026/01/05/app-store-claims-another-important-link-to-the-cjeus-chain-in-private-enforcement-cases/

The CJEU begins its judgment by examining how the concept of the place where the damage occurred should be interpreted and confirming the District Court’s conclusion that Dutch courts had international jurisdiction in this case. The Dutch App Store is designed specifically for the Dutch market and offered apps in Dutch to users whose Apple ID is associated with the Netherlands. This is the ‘virtual space’ where the damage occurred. Since this virtual space corresponds to the territory of the Netherlands, the damages were suffered in the Netherlands and Dutch courts had international jurisdiction. This applied irrespective of the physical location of the user at the time of the purchase.

(By the way, I can confirm that the Apple app store is country specific, which is massively annoying when I'm trying to juggle the UK part of my life while Apple thinks, rightly, that I'm resident in the Netherlands.)

[Malika la Maize]

This spat between Blackman and Heritage is fascinating. I think what Josh is learning is something demonstrated here daily: MAGA is totally ok trafficking with anti-Semites and all kinds of bigots. Each day here folks like Mikie P, “classical” and Recently Disaffected Liberals Life of Bri Bri and Bwaari are more than fine with hanging out with vile anti-Semitic white supremacists like Lexi, Roger S, etc. in attacking their common enemy “the leftists” (defined in practice as anyone anti-Trump). Call them on it and they complain about “tone police.” But of course, there’s no policing on their part, you don’t need police when you’re welcoming into your tent those with which you have no problem worth expressing. No enemies to the right and all. Fine people on both sides.

[Sarcastr0]

If you had to choose, deport undocumented or give a path to legal status: Pathway+25 (including 19% of GOP)
https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us02042026_ubad67.pdf

The crackdown didn’t raise deportation numbers, got a lot of public support behind a pathway to citizenship, and killed and injured a bunch of citizens.

America is resisting fascism, and I am heartened.

[Mr. Bumble]

"The crackdown didn’t raise deportation numbers, got a lot of public support behind a pathway to citizenship, and killed and injured a bunch of citizens."
Filling in this morning for David Notsoimportent is Il Douche with today's first alternate history.

[Riva]

Remember that projection noted above? Well founded and organized democrat Brownshirts are not representative of America or the guardians of democracy. Incidentally, a must read exposure of the tactics of "Defend the 612, " a Minneapolis extremist network obstructing federal law enforcement via Signal chats, cheered on by Minnesota officials hoping we'll forget their corrupt and/or negligent enablement of industrial level welfare fraud: https://www.city-journal.org/article/minneapolis-ice-watch-protests-defend-612

[Sarcastr0]

obstructing federal law immigration enforcement via Signal chats
See, this nonsense is why you're losing.

Did you read the polling? If you click through it's even worse. Across a ton of issues.
It's one poll, but it's reflective of the trend many polls have been picking up.
You're frustration-born false hot takes didn't work.

You're losing badly. Even 20% of the GOP are not buying your 'the real victims are the heavily armed masked thugs' bullshit.

[Mr. Bumble]

Polling, is there anything it can't do?

[Riva]

I have no doubt that there are some useful idiots out there who support democrats. Someone was watching the Grammys. Did you read the City Journal article on the organized obstruction of Defend the 612? Who's funding this I wonder?

[hobie]

So you don't like subversive groups coordinating confrontations with the federal government over Signal, eh?