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Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

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Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now, I understand that there are very valid logical supporting arguments for small government, but let me get this straight: In a situation where massive fraud was committed by a corporation because the government inaccurately blocked government oversight, your solution is to decrease the size of the government... presumably meaning the oversight never would have been attempted in the first place. Crypto is exactly w…

>the advocacy of a small government is exactly _more_ situations like FTX. Arguably not true. The presence of large government and pervasive regulation may behave like the bike helmet paradox (Where cyclists feel they are able to take more risk while wearing a helmet, and motorists drive more carefully around helmet-less riders). Smaller gov in this case may lead to individuals feeling less like the government has ve…

> Arguably not true. The presence of large government and pervasive regulation may behave like the bike helmet paradox (Where cyclists feel they are able to take more risk while wearing a helmet, and motorists drive more carefully around helmet-less riders).

It's a paradox for a reason -- it is counterintuitive. Do you have studies or proof that "small government" may be helpful here, or is this a position that you hold from before that you are justifying here?

Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#72
post #52

"Enforcement powers, while conceptually broader with respect to non-SEC regulated entities, are still circumscribed by statute, federal judicial review, congressional oversight and the Commission’s own policies and procedures for initiating and conducting inquiries and investigations. " Now that's being squishy-soft on crime. That's the point to make when those members of Congress come up for re-election. They're sof…

>”The crypto crowd has been yammering for years "but this is different". Well, it's not.”

In what way? Some cryptocurrencies have been declared securities, while many have not. Those such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have been around for long enough that if they were going to be ruled as securities via Howey, that would have surely been done by now.

Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#73
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a government with a billion people in it, but none of them are allowed to do anything with investments or even hold/have 'extra' jobs while serving society, you reduce or remove the problem all the same. A teeny tiny government with 1 person in it can still mess with investments on a global scale all the same if they are allowed to do so. It 'fixes' nothing. The size and scope of a government is not what…

> The size and scope of a government is not what makes bad performers perform badly. It's bad people combined with bad policies. How bad is a different topic (there is no absolute 'badness', but there are definitely differences). The larger the size and scope, the more opportunity there is for bad actors. More cracks to slip through. More tills to dip into. It’s not the factor that makes a person corrupt, but the big…

As you increase the number of samples, you reduce the variance. So a small government of, say, 1 person, can either be 100% corrupt or 100% pure, but a larger government would approach the population level of corruption in expectation. Why is a larger governance with each individual holding less power less desirable than fewer individuals holding more power?

Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#74
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a government with a billion people in it, but none of them are allowed to do anything with investments or even hold/have 'extra' jobs while serving society, you reduce or remove the problem all the same. A teeny tiny government with 1 person in it can still mess with investments on a global scale all the same if they are allowed to do so. It 'fixes' nothing. The size and scope of a government is not what…

> The size and scope of a government is not what makes bad performers perform badly. It's bad people combined with bad policies. How bad is a different topic (there is no absolute 'badness', but there are definitely differences). The larger the size and scope, the more opportunity there is for bad actors. More cracks to slip through. More tills to dip into. It’s not the factor that makes a person corrupt, but the big…

By the same token, bigger government allows more room for oversight and principled actors to dilute the effects of the unscrupulous ones.

As others here have alluded to, our problem is quality, not quantity.

Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

>EDIT: lol heaven forbid you propose smaller government with legitimate facts on HN lest you get downvoted How would smaller government have helped the FTX situation rather than make things like that much more common and worse? >The fact that the greatest investor in the US is Nancy Pelosi, AND she actively prevented legislation limiting insider trading by US Congress Members, should tell you that the government is n…

I don’t want to restrict them. I want real time total transparency for then, their trusts, their LLCs, their children, spouses, siblings. I want to know what they buy and when, I want to know contracts they sign and deals they make.

When we have leaders living under that kind of microscope, maybe I’ll start trusting them.

Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#77
post #8

The eight congressmen: Tom Emmer (R-MN) Warren Davidson (R-OH) Byron Donalds (R-FL) Ted Budd (R-NC) Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) Ritchie Torres (D-NY) Darren Soto (D-FL) The signed letter: https://emmer.house.gov/_cache/files/0/c/0c7fc863-7916-4b19-...

Their parties should kick them out and replace them with more principled people.

If they punished them, especially in a way that would cause then not be funded in their next election, they could just switch parties.

Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be ideal but in reality these party members raised money for the party so.. they’re in 0 trouble as far as their party is concerned. The system is a farting contest that enables this behavior. Solution would be to do away with the 2 party system and make parties more responsible with consequences as being completely voted out if corruption isn’t handled. Now both Reps and Dems are corrupted and they known…

Quoted post unavailable.

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Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>EDIT: lol heaven forbid you propose smaller government with legitimate facts on HN lest you get downvoted How would smaller government have helped the FTX situation rather than make things like that much more common and worse? >The fact that the greatest investor in the US is Nancy Pelosi, AND she actively prevented legislation limiting insider trading by US Congress Members, should tell you that the government is n…

I don’t want to restrict them. I want real time total transparency for then, their trusts, their LLCs, their children, spouses, siblings. I want to know what they buy and when, I want to know contracts they sign and deals they make. When we have leaders living under that kind of microscope, maybe I’ll start trusting them.

So what if they tell their friends what to buy and sell?

Re: Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry into FTX

#80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now, I understand that there are very valid logical supporting arguments for small government, but let me get this straight: In a situation where massive fraud was committed by a corporation because the government inaccurately blocked government oversight, your solution is to decrease the size of the government... presumably meaning the oversight never would have been attempted in the first place. Crypto is exactly w…

>the advocacy of a small government is exactly _more_ situations like FTX. Arguably not true. The presence of large government and pervasive regulation may behave like the bike helmet paradox (Where cyclists feel they are able to take more risk while wearing a helmet, and motorists drive more carefully around helmet-less riders). Smaller gov in this case may lead to individuals feeling less like the government has ve…

The amount of risk taking obviously has some increase in the number of cyclists that get into accidents. However the outcome of the accident is more important.

So for each accident: how bad was in the injury, cost, permanent damage, and recovery time. Then compare that between both groups.

For example it could be that although wearing a helmet increases the risk of an accident by 15% it decreases the risk of serious brain injury or long term damage by 60%. If that were the case then the helmet is beneficial.

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