Bitcoin is the only way out of feudalism

The following is a guest post by Kadan Stadelmann, the CTO of Komodo Blockchain.

The US has undergone an immense consolidation of wealth and power in recent years. Americans everywhere are suffering while modern-day robber barons get fat off a 21st-century Gilded Age or roaring Twenties. 

Unlike the Gilded Age and 1920s, however, the 2020s offer a reprieve. Bitcoin serves as a timely solution for individuals and families to ensure they enjoy their piece of the American Dream. 

Americans Living In Silent Depression 

In the US, millions of people are living in a “silent depression.” For example, 35% of people in the US are no longer making enough money to pay for basic needs. Some put the number closer to 50% of households. 

In addition, American credit card debt has hit a new record as credit card rates are skyrocketing. For the first time in history, credit card debt has exceeded $1 trillion. And people are paying an average of nearly 28% interest.

The situation is worse for Black and Hispanic families, of whom more than 50% cannot afford the basics. And more than two-thirds of full-time, low-income workers with children fail to earn enough to make ends meet. And dire financial straits stress parents’ health, increasing the likelihood that children’s needs won’t be met. 

Land Owned By Kleptocracy 

Meanwhile, home prices have doubled and tripled over the past ten years, and interest rates have increased significantly. First-time home buyers are getting squeezed out, stuck in high rents, and cannot build equity in the form of homes. Meanwhile, eighty percent of rented farmland is not owned by farmers but instead by investors. 

The US land base is owned by a corporate kleptocracy using their control to strip the wealth from the public. If Americans can’t own equity in the form of homes, they can’t get liquidity from a second mortgage to, say, start a business. And when that happens, the American dream is dead. 

Robber Barons Wield Undue Influence As Shareholders 

BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard have played a meaningful role in consolidating extraordinary wealth in the US. The so-called “Big Three” has become the largest shareholder in 88% of the companies on the S&P 500, exerting a “hidden power” through private engagements with management and potentially other means. 

How To Undo The Damage?

The US was once the land of blue jeans, automobiles, and transistor radios because the founders championed minimal government and the power…