Did you see this? A virtual currency for Zimbabweans to order gas and other commodities:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6660637.stm

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that's news to me, and i think it's wonderful.

sounds like they're doing a little better in that respect than we are, what with the feds cracking down on the liberty dollar.

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Yes and no. The liberty dollar may be in trouble (and e-gold, too), but there are a lot of new virtual currencies arising. Mostly in "games", where they aren't noticed until they start producing real buying power. World of Warcraft and Second Life are the most prominent examples, but even facebook apps all seem to have points of some kind these days...

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thank you! i had that discussion with someone a few months ago about the rise of game currencies having the potential to diminish the power of government and they didn't even take me seriously.

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Yes, but it could go the other way too. Imagine the U.S. IRS setting up shop in Eve Online, WoW, or Second Life...

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That too will happen, and there will be a mad scramble by game companies to avoid offline monetary exchanges of their goods in order to avoid getting listed by the IRS.

Governments exist by maintaining a monopoly over certain kinds of power. Organized violence, currency, critical infrastructure (like roads, canals, airports), and so on.

And there needn't be much overt self-protecting motives on the part of the government. The government has regulated these things for so long, that to leave them to others is to invite (at least in the short run) chaos and crime. The IRS will move into Second Life to catch tax evaders who perform large-scale money laundering in virtual currencies. The Ron Paul dollar crackdown came about because of laws prohibiting counterfeiting and similar con-artistry.

Where libertarians and others differ, is on what would happen *if* the government voluntarily relaxed controls on some of the things it monopolizes. I personally think that some things can be relaxed some, others cannot without bringing about long-term anarchy and even less pleasant regulatory structures (not necessarily formal-governmental -- the Five Families regulated organized gambling and racketeering in NYC quite well).

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Africa is depressing.. Two somewhat recent mainstream movies that highlighted problems there are Constant Gardner and, to a lesser extent, Lord of War.
My only hope for the continent is that they get better leaders over the next 50 years or so that do the right things and drag them out of their problems like Asia has over the past fifty years. Like you said, they need more capitalism and emulate what has happened in Korea, China, India, Vietnam and others.

- UmeshUnni

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You should think about Africa more often. They have lots of giraffes there. Giraffes are neat.

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