{"id":1887,"date":"2022-12-06T21:50:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T21:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/?p=1887"},"modified":"2022-12-06T21:50:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T21:50:58","slug":"everything-thats-wrong-with-the-mainstream-media-and-finance-in-one-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/?p=1887","title":{"rendered":"Everything That’s Wrong With the Mainstream Media and Finance in One Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Everything That's Wrong With the Mainstream Media and Finance in One Picture<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

by Nick Giambruno, contributor, International Man<\/strong> Communique<\/em><\/h2>\n

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\"Everything<\/p>\n

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It’s hard to recall a more despicable and widespread public-relations effort to transform the image of an obvious villain.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, I'm referring to the mainstream media's treatment of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s reminiscent of the movie Batman Returns<\/em>, where a corrupt media tries to polish the image of the repugnant criminal Oswald Cobblepot—better known as the Penguin.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

SBF founded FTX in 2019. The company seemed to come out of nowhere to become one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges in mere months.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

How did this strange newcomer—who didn't know much about Bitcoin—suddenly become the so-called "JP Morgan of Crypto?"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Powerful people in finance, the media, and the government all had a hand in FTX's meteoric rise. So the company was clearly at the nexus of something important—though the whole picture is not exactly clear at this point.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Simply put, FTX was a cesspool.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The company allegedly mishandled customer deposits, was involved in shady activities in Ukraine, sold Bitcoin it didn’t have and had suspicious connections with prominent politicians and regulators.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For example, SBF was the second-largest donor to the Democratic Party, behind only George Soros.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

FTX also lobbied the government for special treatment and to suffocate its competitors with regulations.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Brady, Larry David, and other celebrities lent their image to FTX. The company even aired a commercial during the Super Bowl. In addition, FTX acquired the naming rights to the stadium where the Miami Heat basketball team plays.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As a result of all this mainstream publicity, countless ordinary people were suckered into FTX and lost many billions of dollars in minutes as this crooked institution went bankrupt recently.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of treating SBF like a criminal, the media launched a bizarre PR blitz to paint him as some selfless altruist out to save the planet.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"1.png\"<\/p>\n

It's not uncommon to see the mainstream media bend over backward to gloss over any of SBF's alleged wrongdoing and instead highlight what might make you think he's not such a bad guy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"2.png\"<\/p>\n

SBF also appeared on Good Morning America<\/em>. He denied he knew about the improper use of customer funds—it wasn't convincing. Host George Stephanopoulos was either unwilling or not sufficiently informed to challenge the assertions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the most ridiculous display in this coordinated PR campaign was SBF’s remote appearance from the Bahamas—he hasn’t returned to the US since FTX’s collapse—at the New York Times<\/em> Dealbook Summit.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"3.png\"<\/p>\n

Andrew Ross Sorkin, an establishment darling and event host, asked fake hard questions. Clearly, his goal was to do damage control, not discover the truth. In the end, a sympathetic audience gave SBF enthusiastic applause.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When you take a step back and look at the big picture, powerful people and institutions are clearly protecting SBF.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The mainstream media, which already has a well-deserved dismal reputation, is destroying what little credibility it has left with these endless SBF puff pieces. It’s a desperate and foolish move, and I don’t think it will work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever was really going on with FTX could be exposed soon. And since the media has been working so hard to cover it up, it could be explosive.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The fallout could devastate other cryptocurrency exchanges and companies.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That’s why it’s crucial to hold Bitcoin properly.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you hold your Bitcoin on Coinbase or some other platform, you don’t really own your Bitcoin and are taking on significant counterparty risk. Instead, you own a Bitcoin IOU, which is something very different—as FTX clients are finding out.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These custodians can freeze and seize your funds for any pretext they find convenient. You need to ask for their permission to use your funds.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Custodians can also go bankrupt, and you can lose all your funds, which has happened countless times. They also know your entire transaction history, so you have no privacy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The whole point of Bitcoin is for you to totally control your money. Relying on a third party defeats the entire purpose.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It’s much more secure to hold your Bitcoin off the exchange’s website in your own self-custody wallet, where you control the private keys to eliminate this dangerous counterparty risk.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As Bitcoiners like to say, "not your keys, not your Bitcoin."<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n

New Opportunities Are Emerging For Citizens of The World.<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Freedom and democracy<\/strong> may appear to be struggling to stay alive in America, but there may be a knock-out punch ready to be released. The evolution of the blockchain-enabled metaverse is going to enable the 'Citizens of the World'<\/strong> to gain their own Freedom<\/strong> by democratizing power and creating a new world with new rules, new players, and new opportunities. For 99.99% of us, the metaverse will improve our real-world lives by democratizing power and opportunity.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Along with the major long-term trend of society towards decentralization<\/strong> and smaller-scale organizations, there are new opportunities developing to help 'Preparers' in the cryptocurrency sector. Businesses are beginning to issue their own Crypto Coins that can be traded on Cryptocoin Exchanges.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Markethive.com<\/a> will release its HiveCoin (HIV) in the coming weeks. It has tremendous upside potential that is outlined in a Video by Founder Tom Prendergast, "Entrepreneur Advantage…<\/a>".<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not only that, if you go to their website and register as a FREE Member, you will be given 500 HiveCoins<\/strong> for "FREE"<\/strong><\/em> along with access to several Earning Opportunities and online tools to increase your HiveCoin balance.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Be sure to check it out today – Markethive.com<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Markethive\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tim Moseley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Everything That's Wrong With the Mainstream Media and Finance in One Picture by Nick Giambruno, contributor, International Man Communique     It’s hard to recall a more despicable and widespread public-relations effort to transform the image of an obvious villain. Of course, I'm referring to the mainstream media's treatment of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). It’s reminiscent of … Continue reading Everything That’s Wrong With the Mainstream Media and Finance in One Picture<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[763,764,7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prendergast.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}