Sorry, the Bank Is Closed. Come Back Never

Lessons from Afghanistan [Gilder's Daily Prophecy] August 19, 2021 [UNSUBSCRIBE]( | [ARCHIVES]( Urgent Crash Warning for August 23rd, 2021 [bargain to bubble]( Everyone already knows that the stock market is in a bubble… But now some experts are starting to predict that the bubble will burst sooner than anyone expected and hit harder than anyone could have imagined. With some experts saying that we could see a stock market sell-off of 80% or more as soon as next week… This could completely decimate the retirement saving of millions of Americans all at once. So if you care about you and your family’s wealth the time to act is NOW. That’s why we flew in one of the top traders in America to tell you exactly what you need to do to get ready for this impending crash… [Click here to see his FREE presentation]( But hurry, because if you wait until tomorrow, it could already be too late. [Warning] Do you enjoy receiving Gilder's Daily Prophecy? Please [Click Here Now]( so we know to continue sending you Gilder's Daily Prophecy for free! Sorry, the Bank Is Closed. Come Back Never [Jeffrey Tucker]Dear Daily Prophecy Reader, What can we learn from the images out of Afghanistan? - It’s not a good idea to board a plane by hanging on the handles of a closed cabin door. - It’s unlikely that crowding onto an airplane staircase is going to gain you access to a flight out. - When a domestic regime is certain to take over, it’s wise not to reveal yourself as part of a foreign occupying power; you are better off handing over your guns, and your stinger missiles and tanks. - Don’t trust the US government to have your back. One other point. - When you really, really need your money, the same time as when everyone else really needs their money, the bank will be closed. You can shout and scream and demand what is yours. You can riot and protest. You can beat and punch people. But in the end, you are on the outside, your money is on the inside, and someone else controls access. This was the situation in chaotic Afghanistan in the last hours of US occupation. Yes, the US made some attempt to modernize the financial and monetary system in that country, but its durability proved as lasting as the puppet government and its hundreds of thousands of troops supposedly defending its right to rule. Everyone calls the new government primitive tribesmen, but they are not stupid. They know that controlling the money and banking system is the key to controlling the country. So closing the banks to depositors was top of the list of things to do when you take over a country. Will things normalize in this country and economic life start working again? I tend to think so. I’m not sure I agree with those who say that the Taliban’s devotion to Sharia law guarantees that it will be back to the 12th century for these poor people. Maybe, maybe not. The region is full of examples of modernized countries that still claim fealty to Islam and are ruled by regimes that combine faith and a semblance of modern life. The Taliban has a bad reputation, but also something to prove here. The banks will likely open in time. The new rulers have every reason to make good on the promises to depositors. In their own time. Can You Get Your Money? We see these scenes and say: it could never happen here. Oh really? I would caution against such confidence. In a real crisis, with a real run on the banks, they will not be there for you. Nothing requires them to be. Surely you remember 2008 when the US president warned that unless the banks were bailed out, your ATM would not have the cash to dispense when you needed it. It was a devastating warning. It certainly helped with passage of the first round of welfare spending for banks. But it also kicked off a great scramble for some system that could be made bullet-proof against malicious actors among the financial intermediaries, central banks chief among them. The most extraordinary innovation was revealed in October 2008. It was Bitcoin. The full protocol went online January 3, 2009. The value of a Bitcoin back then was $0. It took fully 10 months for geeks and nerds to suss out the code to make sure it all worked. When it did seem to work, the value of the unit began to reveal itself. It rose and rose, and a new world began to dawn. The idea was to democratize and disintermediate money and banking – crucial institutions in any modern society. These have been variously controlled by governments throughout most of history. This innovation introduced the possibility that they could work peer-to-peer regardless of geography. No barriers. No censorship. Perfect ownership and control. That’s amazing, but it didn’t stop with money. The technology could be used for contracts, divisible rights over income streams, and methods of financing enterprise. By 2013, it became obvious to many what this technology made possible. There was a group of women workers in Afghanistan – people trained in web design and programming – who became early adopters. This is a country without widespread access to banks. This is for reason of geography but also culture: not even the US occupation could overcome the resistance to letting women have bank accounts they owned and controlled. In that case, there was really no way for them to get paid for their work. Bitcoin to that generation represented freedom. There were several non-government organizations who got involved in showing women how to become independent contractors working for Bitcoin that was delivered directly into their own cell phones. It seemed like a dream, and it did work for a time. [No more banks. No more accountants. No more Wall Street?]( External Advertisement Detonating in 3… 2.. 1… Declining smartphone sales is troubling for Apple.… It’s like running an engine on a single battery connection. But Apple’s fate could change on September 8. On September 8, I believe Apple will announce a brand-new device — the “iPhone Killer,” thus connecting its positive terminal (red). If I’m correct, certain stocks could soar when the Nasdaq opens trading. [Click image (below) to learn more »]( [New Federal Rule could change America forever.]( Then a problem emerged. As Bitcoin became more popular, and there were no forks or convenient tools to convert one form of crypto into another, a huge problem presented itself. The network failed to scale. It became slow and expensive. This not only hurt adoption in the developed world; it caused issues in places such as Afghanistan. It also hurt the ability to actually use crypto in real life, as fewer institutions adopted it. Then government started with the regulations as if to say: “hold your horses.” The revolution would have to wait. This changed in time both for the crypto industry, but even for Bitcoin itself. Today there are impressive technologies that allow networks to trade Bitcoin for next to nothing. The lightning network seems finally ready for prime time after years of development. Bitcoin is still the most circulated crypto, but there are many options available today. In any case, the Bitcoin revolution in Afghanistan never really took hold, as many had hoped it would. That’s too bad, because crypto would have been handy to have and hold in this country during this past week. Many people had come to trust the banks, but they should not have. Actually, so long as they are controlled by government, it’s probably never a perfectly great idea to put absolute trust in banks in any country. Why Close the Banks? Why precisely did the Taliban shut all the banks? A clue came with yesterday’s story in the WSJ: the US shut off all dollar shipments that the Biden administration had planned to send the new coalition government. Except there was no coalition. The Taliban gained full control without firing a shot, sending the Biden administration scrambling and many Americans trapped in the country facing the rage of a possibly hostile regime. When the dollar shipments ended, and banks got word, they did what one would expect. They closed their doors; the depositors’ wishes and hopes be damned. What happened to the central bank that the US set up and managed so well? The head of it, Mr. Ajmal Ahmady, has fled the country. "On Sunday I began work,” he wrote in a Tweet. “Reports throughout morning were increasingly worrisome. I left the bank and left deputies in charge. Felt terrible about leaving staff.” Why hadn’t they planned for this? He does not know. “I cannot forgive him [the president of Afghanistan] for creating that without a transition plan… He himself had great ideas but poor execution. If I contributed to that, I take my share of the blame." A savvy contributor to Bitcoin Magazine [put]( a fine point on it: “The fractional reserve-based financial system that rules today, along with the reign of fiat currencies, has intrinsic downsides. Since the balance in your checking bank account is not fully there, a bank run would cause chaos, similar to the Afghan situation. Bank accounts can be quickly frozen, and a person bearing considerable amounts of cash can become an obvious target for criminals.” The Americans who invaded Afghanistan refused to learn from the previous experiences of the Soviets and the British. There is still much to learn from the American experience. One of those lessons concerns the security of your money and finances. Think of the scenes of people frantically hunting for ATMs only to find that they are empty. It happened there. It could happen anywhere. Regards, [Jeffrey Tucker] Jeffrey Tucker Billionaire Leaves Crowd In Shock [sky]( audience of a few hundred (including myself) quietly gathered in Washington D.C. a few months back. That’s when the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, took the stage… and shocked the entire room. It all has to do with this image you see on your screen… showing a surprising new discovery he’s made. Not only will this blow you away… it could also transform the American economy forever. [Click here for Elon’s shocking reveal (plus see what it means for you)…]( [Three founders Publishing]( To end your Gilder's Daily Prophecy e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from Gilder's Daily Prophecy, feel free to [click here](. 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