Flutterby™! : Silver - Atlas Shrugged - Lakota - Sometimes things seem weird

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Silver - Atlas Shrugged - Lakota - Sometimes things seem weird

2008-11-24 17:45:01.925726+00 by ziffle 17 comments

In a strange confluence, we have the Lakota tribe quoting Ayn Rand - Long time listeners will understand the irony in this -

Quoting Atlas Shrugged, they open:

The Free Lakota Bank is the world's first non-reserve, non-fractional bank that issues, accepts for deposit, and circulates REAL money...silver and gold. All of our deposits are liquid, meaning they can be withdrawn at any time in minted rounds.

When you open an account at the Free Lakota Bank, there are 2 specific things we do not want: your name and your social security number. It is not our job to track the movement of our clients' money; we do not want to know who is depositing, where it comes from, or at what rate it enters or leaves our bank. We believe money is anonymous and not subject to tracking.

Lakota - the word will always sound sweeter now. Seriously - its a great idea - hope they mint a Ron Paul coin too!

I wonder if they are really Lakota and if they are actually on a reservation and therefore free from US interference?

Mayberry PS and no 'god' on the coin - how refreshing!

[ related topics: Religion Interactive Drama Objectivism Sociology Heinlein Currency ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-24 19:20:39.133031+00 by: Dan Lyke

Interesting. I don't see an obvious notion of governing body or procedure and reputation for auditing of the bank, which I'd want before depositing money there, but I like the preliminary pitch I see.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-24 19:23:06.832233+00 by: JT

I'd also like to see FDIC on the chance the bank goes under. Especially since they won't be making any loans since they're stating they're keeping their assets liquid. I'd imagine it would be a large-ish monthly fee to keep my money there since they won't be making any money from loans and also won't be dealing in an internationally recognized tender.

I think I'll stick with my current bank. Seems a bit more stable and actually deals with US money, which all of my bills are paid in.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-24 19:27:29.117619+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

The fee for fully backed deposits is .06%/year, you can also deposit in their investment fund, which has a 1 year moratorium on withdrawals, and does pay a dividend. I haven't looked at what my investment company would charge me for holding gold, but the fact that they're covered by U.S. law does give them a bit of an edge.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-24 23:42:06.825695+00 by: Dan Lyke

Just as an aside, despite my skepticism about the bank itself, I do indeed enjoy the irony Ziffle mentioned in the post.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 06:25:23.20066+00 by: TheSHAD0W

I'm going to guess that, 6 months to a year from now, the Feds will charge the bank w/ money laundering, much like they did with e-gold. It may even be a true charge, as outlaws are happy to use any means they can find to move cash around.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 12:22:36.488348+00 by: meuon

If you mean "e-gold" the paypal-ish online guys out of Nashville. They were heavily into MLM schemes, online gambling.. and illegal drug payments. Money Laundering was just a sideline. And I can't explain how well I know this.

But I also contend it is a sham/scam. The website is hosted at network Solutions, it is a very basic CMS driven website, with even is 'secure' site run on a shared hosting server fed by a Toronto Canada hosting company.

Click on "Open Account" and they want you to download and install "GuardedID" a "Keystroke Encryption Product" that has features like: Adheres to group policies and "CryptoColor” but this really sounds like a keyboard logger:

GuardedID® takes a proactive approach to stopping keylogging programs by encrypting every keystroke at the point of typing the keys, and rerouting those encrypted keystrokes directly to your Internet Explorer browser through its own unique path. GuardedID® bypasses the typical places keyloggers normally reside, thereby helping to eliminate your vulnerability to keylogging attacks, which could compromise your personal information causing you financial losses.

But the real kicker is.. Where is the "Free Lakota Bank"? It reaks of "scam" but because they quoted Ayn Rand, Ziffle wants to make a deposit.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 15:05:49.726913+00 by: petronius

The "minted Rounds" they offer to pay you back in are "AOCS approved". Any idea who or what AOCS is? The best google I can find is the American Oil Chemistry Society. I also like that while paper money is worthless, for a limited time they will be happy to take your shin-plaster fiat money and exchange it for REAL MONEY!! I also wonder if the Lakota Nation knows anything about this.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 15:08:26.558611+00 by: ziffle

meuon it appears you know quite a lot about MLM, online gambling and drug payments. I won't ask why. Ziffle is fairly tired of the Nazi like attitude the big banks take when you try to do business with them. Of course some of us think the Patriot Act was not a good thing :)

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 15:19:36.118655+00 by: Diane Reese

I'm partial to my Credit Union, personally. They know me, their "attitude" is non-existent, and they're taking very good care of my money.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 15:25:01.414597+00 by: JT

I get the same thing with Bank of America. Everyone's nice in my branch, FDIC insured, haven't paid a checking account fee since I opened an account more than 10 years ago, and my savings almost always pay me dividends. Not to mention I used them in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Tennessee and California where I could always wander into a local branch and smile at the tellers no matter where I was.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 15:40:27.051991+00 by: ziffle

I tried to draw out 15k in cash from a big bank and they started getting real demanding

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 16:13:21.399633+00 by: petronius

Ziffle, it wasn't your bank getting demanding, but the US Treasury. Cash transactions of over 10 grand must be registered with the government.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-25 18:08:59.108241+00 by: ziffle

Its being reported that the Lakotah tribe has nothing to do with this outfit.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-26 01:59:42.733625+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

Ziffle, I'm not surprised, but I am kind of disappointed.

And... Petronius, I thought FinCEN was supposed to get wind of all transactions over $10k, not just cash ones.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-26 04:12:34.50266+00 by: meuon

Ziffle: I still do some interesting forensics work.

Real Story.. I got paid to do this: Once upon a time I moved 1.5 MILLION dollars back and forth from a couple of hundred PayPal accounts in under a month, just to see if they would trigger on it. I have some really good scripts for using PayPal with IPN (instant Payment Notification). 6 months later, the shut down my test account because they suspected me of being involved in an MLM. That was after 5 months of no-activity.

Personally, I refuse to use PayPal. But I don't eBay much either, so no loss.

eGold actually encouraged such things, but they charged a lot more per transfer than PayPal. I can't tell any eGold stories.

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-26 05:49:29.218632+00 by: ziffle

meuon - I concur about Paypal and I like that you would transfer it 'just to see if it would trigger it' keeps them busy watching everyone eh?

Its interesting. When you go into the big box banks they have signs that say 'cash is king' and so forth... but they really don't mean it.

If I write a check on one bank and deposit it into another bank it can take days to get the actual ability to write a check on it. But, if I draw out cash, walk it down the street and deposit it, I get instant[Wiki] access to the funds. So screw them. I am sure they have me in their lists. In fact I found for a while they would pull me aside at airports and pat down my clothes - it felt like they were searching for cash (I was going to Canada a lot)

#Comment Re: made: 2008-11-26 11:00:37.997716+00 by: meuon

Many banks now charge a FEE to cash one of their own checks. I've heard Suntrust is one of them. Regions was last time I tried it, a few months ago. The guy that wrote me the check moved his account because of the practice.

Banks may be a dying breed in more ways that the federal bailout.