progress

James A. Donald jamesd at echeque.com
Mon Jan 5 20:32:53 PST 2004


    --
Declan McCullagh:
> But then you have the next wave of attacks by the U.S.
> regulatory apparatus (again, assuming sufficient
> determination). The U.S. could pressure the Panama government
> to close Pecunix or apply direct or indirect sanctions and
> incentives. The U.S. could make it more difficult for U.S.
> residents to transfer money into a Pecunix account, perhaps
> through direct criminal sanctions or regulatory 
> discouragement. The U.S. could mount a propaganda campaign
> against trusting Pecunix and similar operators, and so on.

Yes, but all this is more complicated, more difficult to do,
and easier to evade, than sending in goons to a certain shop to
beat the owner insensible and seize his inventory.

A ruler who is competent and violent can accomplish all sorts
of things.  As Napoleon said, you can do anything with bayonets
except sit on them, but in fact you cannot do anything with
bayonets. It is hard to do complicated things.

Leviathan is necessarily far less intelligent than the
individuals that compose it. 

    --digsig
         James A. Donald
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     43VuVeZv4rjEnepkdOsSb+yERponsE9yYH6rr1Dls





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