But in Europe, we have more trust in our own governement and less in corporation than in the US, where it seem to be the opposite
I've seen that said many times in fora (fortunately not so often on HN), but the only people that seem to subscribe to it are the preppers and the gun fanatics, usually using some kind of reference to words that have not been updated in a couple of centuries. It's about as useful as wanting to back to the glory days of England.
Americans trust their government on average just about as much as people of other countries trust theirs, with a notable exception made for the Swiss.
> The distinction is this: No one is forcing anyone to use Libra its your choice. : )
And it is the choice of the democratically chosen governments of France and Germany to decide to so something about it, and I'm fully in agreement with that.
The last we need is for the Zuckerbergs to have the power to start dictating monetary policy, the amount of power he has today is already way more than he should have.
Note that neither Germany nor France has decided to 'block bitcoin', or outlaw it (which they could do, but it remains to be seen how much effect that would have). And we are not forced to use that either.
Maybe, excepted that Facebook is not an individual. Compagnies are not individual.
They are just private entities seeking for their own profit and should be treated as such.
There is no trust to have in Facebook: if they can fuck half of the world to double their benefits, they will do it. That's it.
Trusting such entity to ensure "common good of people" through a currency is simply madness. And Libra is exactly that.
I'm sorry if it shock the American "free" way of thinking, but this is our European way of thinking.
Corporations are exercises or government power, in fact.
Don't be naive.
- In order to make a choice, you need to be properly informed. Now, most people won't have the time or interest to see what Libra is and what the consequences of widespread Libra adoption would be.
- Facebook can force a sector of their paying users (mainly advertisers) to use Libra.
- Facebook also has a lot of influence, most people use at least one of Facebook, Instagram or Whatsapp. Those apps can be used to advertise and push Libra.
- Once Libra adoption reaches a critical point, you'd need to use it because you need to buy things.
- You don't need to use it to suffer negative consequences due to a private foreign for-profit business controlling monetary policy.
And the track record of public, non-profit entities controlling monetary policy is ... great?
Furthermore, Libra would have incentive to move the policy towards further profit for the members, while central banks have incentives to stabilize the economy.
I'm aware that I'm very biased here but the tragedy that is Facebook upsets me all the more for what it could've been. Instead of being a boon to society, they've become the worst form of surveillance capitalism.
I wouldn't trust facebook with handling my garden, let alone a monetary system. They have proven time and time again that they are reckless if not outright malicious and outdo even some incumbent bad guys in the sheer underhanded disregard for anything but their own bottom line.
But in that light, what France and Germany are doing makes sense too. At the end of the day, they too have the right to protect their collective interests, correct?
Or would you have them do something that goes against their interests so you would be able to protect your assets?
On the second part of your comment: I suspect some tech companies were given a while lot of leeway in many aspects by society at large, because it was generally believed that they would act in a more responsible way. Now, we come to the realization that maybe some of that leeway was misplaced.
There's another HN article in the frontpage today that basically floats the idea that Big Tech is a menace to Democracy itself. I think that's partly the explanation why people (and nations in general) are so suspicious of Libra.