A Ron Paul man and a short-seller

If Snowden was getting comfortable in Geneva, he was fully at home in #arsificial. In a departure from his nearly 800 posts in other Ars forums, here he spoke bluntly on matters of state. In the months following the 2008 election, he discussed his embrace of a return to the gold standard and his admiration of its highest-profile champion.

In his more hyperbolic moments, Snowden spoke about the fall of the dollar in near-apocalyptic terms. "It seems like the USD and GBP are both likely to go the way of the zimbabwe dollar," he suggested in March 2009. "Especially with that cockbag bernanke deciding to magically print 1.2T more dollars."

< User9> haha did you see ron paul at the latest bailout hearings < User9> he brought up the gold standard < TheTrueHOOHA> He's so dreamy. < User9> asked if there had been any discussion about that < TheTrueHOOHA> Got a link? < User9> no < User10> Ahh gold standard.. it'll never happen, harder to manipulate. < TheTrueHOOHA> That's kind of a selling point. < User10> No it's not < User11> hahahahhahaah you actually like the gold standard

you dumb baby < TheTrueHOOHA> I suppose if you're a fan of runaway inflation and leverage schemes, that's true.



His social views veered libertarian, too. In a February 2009 chat, Snowden said that while he "never had anything to do with drugs," the marijuana farming that was conducted openly in some parts of Australia "reflects positively on the country... +1 for personal freedoms."

Later in the same chat, Snowden made a joke that may have been telling. He suggests that the US government was engaged in domestic spying even back then.

Snowden wrote: "Too bad the [Australian] government is luddite technophobes... USA FUCK YEAH... WE LOVE THAT TECHNOLOGY SHIT. HELPS US SPY ON OUR CITIZENS BETTER."



The high unemployment rate that was on the way for the US didn't phase Snowden; those wringing their hands and seeking conventional Keynesian solutions seemed softheaded to him. Obama was "planning to devalue the currency absolutely as fast as theoretically possible," he wrote. Rising unemployment was a mere "correction," a "necessary part of capitalism."

< User12> how then do you deal with 12% unemployment < TheTrueHOOHA> can't have it both way.

Almost everyone was self-employed prior to 1900. Why is 12% employment so terrifying? < TheTrueHOOHA> that's nothing. < User12> we'll see what happens. im tired of trying to predict how this will all turn out

it's a huge fucking mess < TheTrueHOOHA> short selling FTW. :D

Short-selling, as it happens, wasn't just a quip for Snowden. In the end of 2008, with the world economy in a tailspin, stock trades consumed a great deal of his attention. In November of that year, Snowden complained that he "lost $20,000 in october alone," but he was confident that short-selling was the way to get it back. "I made $1200 today on ultrashort etfs," he wrote later that day. "only $18800 to go before I make up my losses for the year."

And he didn't just love shorting stocks; he loved defending the practice online as well. Snowden relished the intellectual combat in defending a trading practice he knew was controversial, but he was convinced it was vital and ethical.

< User13> Dow 6000 here we come.. < User14> what's it at now? 7800s? < User13> 7997 I think < User13> I wouldn't be surprised to see the Dow hit 6xxx numbers... I figure that's as low as it goes, of course it may flatline there for a while. < User15> pray for 5;s < User16> why? < TheTrueHOOHA> because then i'll be filthy fucking rich

The next month:

< TheTrueHOOHA> HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Money, bitches! < TheTrueHOOHA> I just want to point out that all of you bottom callers were wrong, and I, in fact, was right. That is all. < User17> ?? < TheTrueHOOHA> Stock market. Fake rally earlier today, then it had a heart attack in the final hour.

During the election, Snowden suggested he could support Obama if he were somehow to join forces with his opponent, John McCain. Snowden saw McCain as an "excellent leader" and "a guy with real values," unlike Bush. But he wasn't dreading an Obama presidency. "We need an idealist first and foremost," he wrote. "Hillary Clinton, I think, would be a pox on the country."

Once Obama took office, Snowden groaned about his policies with increasing frequency. Fears that Obama might revive an assault weapons ban didn't sit well with him as a defender of the Second Amendment. Another sticking point was social security. Snowden was an individualist, even when it was unpopular; he saw little need for a safety net.