Danger close: domestic extremist threat #1 comes clean patrick byrne download pdf
Danger Close: Domestic Extremist Threat #1 Comes Clean Patrick Byrne
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Thisbookisaworkofnon-fiction Theauthorhasmadeeveryefforttoensurethattheaccuracyoftheinformationinthisbookwascorrectattimeofpublication Neitherthe authornorthepublishernoranyotherperson(s)associatedwiththisbookmaybeheldliableforanydamagesthatmayresultfromanyoftheideasmadebytheauthorinthis book
Overthecourseoftwocenturies,theexpression’susagehasexpandedtomorethanonehundredlanguagesofthe world Anddespiteitsconsiderableage,itsuseismorerelevantthanever,astoday’ssocietyseemslessablethan evertoprocesscriticallytheinformationgiventoit
Notlong afterthat, financialjournalistCharles Gasparino scolded his CNBCcohosts on-airforhowthey had endlesslyattackedByrnefrom2005-2008regardingclaimsaboutwhichhehadturnedouttobecorrect:“Patrick Byrnewasright,allalong theOverstockguy thateverybodymadefunof ”rebukedGasparinotoashamefacedJimCramerandBeckyQuick
Months later, the Wall Street Journal included Byrnein its year-end list(“2008 Look back:BestCalls ofthe Year”)offivepeoplewhodeservedcreditforseeingthefinancialcrisiscoming(othersincludedJamieDimon, NassimTaleb,andNourielRoubini)
“By ‘fraud,’ Greenspan was referring to Bernie Madoff,” says Patrick Byrne, when asked to comment on his relationshiptotheseevents “By‘securitization,’Greenspanwasreferringtotheroleplayedbymortgage-backed securitiesinthe2008financialcrisis ButwhenGreenspansaid‘settlement,’hewasreferringtowhatin2005-2008 Ihadbeenpointingouttoanyonewhowouldlisten.Ihaddousedmyselfingasolineandself-immolatedinfrontof theSECtowarnthecountryaboutsettlementfailuresandsystemicrisk.ThatdayinOctober2008Greenspantold Congressthesamething.EveryoneinfinancialcirclesknewthatIhadbeenprovencorrect.”
Overtheyears,Byrne’strajectoryhasremindedsomeofthecharacterColonelKurzfrom Apocalypse Now an early“goldenboy”whogoesofftrackthrough(saysome)insanity,genius,orsomedarkimpulsethatcannotbe unraveled Nowforthefirsttimesincehisdeparturefromacceptablesociety,Byrnehassatlongenoughtogivea comprehensiveinterviewtouchinguponallcornersofhislifeandactivities
OnlyaftersomeproddingdoesByrnegointodetails.Accordingtohim,“BothparentsarefromNewJerseyIrish working-classbackgrounds Mymother’sfatherwasalinemaninCapeMay,NewJersey Myfather’ssidewas fromPattersontenementsthatwerethenIrishandJewish,bythe1960swereBlackandHispanic,andarenow Muslim IntheDepressiontheymovedtoWildwood PopwentAirForceROTCtoRutgers,tickedoffageneral, servedhisyearsinanicestationinnorthernGreenland,dischargedandmarriedMom OntheGI Bill,broke-as-ajoke,theymovedtoUniversityofMichigansoPopcouldgetamaster’sinactuarialMathandlandaninsurancejob, whichhadbeenhisdreamsincehewasten,oddly MichiganandIndianaarewherewethreekidspoppedinto existence Ourdearmiddlebrotherpassedawayseveralyearsago”
“While I was an infant, we moved to New England My father bounced among jobs in Massachusetts and Connecticut,whichiswhereIwenttogradeschool,butourfamilytimewasallinVermontandNewHampshire, whichbegantofeelmorelikehome”
WhenByrnewasthirteenhisfatherwaspassedoverforapromotionataninsurancefirminHartford,TheTravelers “WhenIwasolder,heletmeknowthathefeltitwasbecausehewasIrishCatholic,inthemoldofTipO’Neil:a big, chubby, garrulous Irishman He also hired Jews and Blacks How he saw it, the WASPs at HQ liked him because of his ability to work with insurance agents, who were often Jewish or Black because they start small insuranceagenciestoavoidbig-firmdiscrimination ButtheBrassdidnotwantJewsandBlacksatHQandopposed aCatholicrisingtoohigh “ThepromotionwentinsteadtoaWASPoutofHollywoodCentralCasting,amanwho never made his numbers, who over the next twenty years ran The Travelers into the ground,” says Byrne the younger “Iwaswithmyfatherinhisdyingdaysandthatsetbackhauntedhim,thoughfordecadesItoldhimitwas thebestthingthateverhappenedtotheFamilyByrne.”
AccordingtoByrne,Buffettbetone-thirdofhisnetworthonByrne’sdad,andthatbecameBuffett’sfirstbillion “That $7,000 car, invested instead in Berkshire Hathaway stock in 1976, along with the rest of that decade at
Somewhere in those years, Byrne says, he and Buffett started to use the term “Rabbi” to describe Buffett’s relationshiptoByrne(becauseitresembledtherelationshipayoungJewishboywouldhavewithhisownRabbi).“It wasabsurdlygenerousofMr.Buffett,lookingback,”saysByrne.“Iwasthirteen,maybefourteenwhenitstarted.I stillrememberverbatimparablesBuffetttoldme.Mylife’sdirectionwaschangedbythoseafternoonshetookfor me.Aswasmyfather’slife.AftertenyearsatGEICO,hemovedonandspenttherestofhiscareerrepeatingwhat hehaddoneatGEICO,fixingbrokeninsurancecompanieswithWarrenBuffettashispartner.”
Byrnedescribeshisfirstforayintoentrepreneurship.WhileasophomoreatWhitmanHighinBethesda,heandhis brothers ran a Christmas Tree business out of a parking lot off McArthur Boulevard Byrne can still recite the numbers:“500treesboughtfor$8/treeinMaineandtruckeddowninaRyderbymyoldestbrother,thatwethen soldinBethesdafor$30/tree Thatwas500treesX$22grossprofit=$11,000ingrossprofit,minusourexpenses” ByrneandhisbrotherssoldChristmastreesbyatrashcanfireforfouryears,hesays “Thefirstyearwewere makingmoneyonpaper,buttwodaysbeforeChristmas40percentofourtreeswereunsold ThatiswhenIfirst learnedabout‘overstock’ TwodaysbeforeChristmaswegavethemawaytoaKoreanchurchinVirginia Butthe
“Growing up around New England, especially northern New England, meant that by nature we were not flatlanders.TheByrneFamilyhadspentallournon-schooltimeinNewHampshireandVermont,andovertime, thosestatescametofeelmostlikehome MaybethatiswhyIhavealwaysbeenconsciousofbeingaroundcity people Youknowhowtocityfolk,peoplefromthecountryseemodd?Itworkstheotherwayaround,too Frankly, topeoplefromthecountry,citypeopleseemlike kooks Whatpassesfornormalbehaviorincityenvironmentswill, ifyoudoitinthecountry,leadpeopletothinkyou’reanidiot
ByrnemovedtoVermont,andhesoonjoinedhistwoolderbrothersatDartmouthCollege,innearbyHanover,New Hampshire Why did all three boys go to Dartmouth when his father had gone to Rutgers? “Because of that attachmenttonorthernNewEngland,wehadalwaysassumedDartmouthwouldbetheplace,whenthetimecame”
Givinguphislasttwoyearsofcollegefootballin1983,ByrnewenttoChinaasitopenedtoforeignstudents, spendingayearatBeijingTeacher’sUniversity InitiallyhestudiedChineselanguagebutwentontohistoryand philosophy “It started with Laozi, Zhuangzi, Confucius, and a certain Tang Dynasty writer I admired, but I continuedthroughMarxist-Leninist-Maoistthought”
InthatendeavorhewasguidedbytwophilosophyprofessorsvisitingDartmouthwhenByrnereturned David Luban, now a Georgetown Law professor, and his wife, Judith Lichtenberg, of Georgetown Philosophy, both distinguishedphilosophers “Davidisknowninmanysub-disciplinessuchasLegalEthicsandisamajorfigurein
Duringhisyearsin-and-outofhospitalinhistwenties,Byrnebegangraduatestudiesinmathematicallogicat Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California. “Stanford Philosophy was tremendous to me, and those studies broughtmeclosetoareligiousexperience,”saysByrne.“Onehearsaboutabotaniststudyingaflowerandseeing Godinthepetalsofarose.Forme,itwasthatperiodofstudyinglogic.OnenightIleftGreeneLibraryatmidnight toridehomeinthedark,andasIbicycled,IhadwhatIsupposewasareligiousexperience ForsomeitistheBible, forsomeitisarose,formeitwasComputationTheory”
At Stanford Byrne first encountered what he calls “Early Woke,” seeing it as “Maoism with American characteristics,”saysByrne HedescribestheworldviewofMarxists:
Byrnecontinues,“Let’sgofromMarxismtoMaoism Maocametopowerin1949,butbythe1960shewasbeing put out to pasture, having made mistakes such as, The Great Leap Forward So he called for a ‘Cultural Revolution,’”Byrneexplains “In theideology oftheCulturalRevolution, therewerefivebad kinds ofpeople: landlords, capitalists, rich peasants, right-wingers, and anti-revolutionaries Adults in these bad categories were humiliated,trottedaroundwithduncecaps,tortured,rusticated,evenkilled Worseyet,theirchildreninheritedtheir ‘Bad’Theonlywayoutofitforthechildrenwastoadoptanewidentity:‘Red’”
“Map that onto what is occurring here: ‘Bad’ identities are White, male, Christian, Cis ‘Good’ identities are ‘intersectional’andanalternateidentitywithwhichallyouthcanredeemthemselvesis‘Woke’oreighty-seven flavorsof‘Queer.’”
logicto moraland politicalphilosophy, and studying with legends ofphilosophy and economics Therehealso encounteredFullWoke“anti-intellectual,uninformed aboutwhatcurrentUSuniversitylifehasbecomemany places”Stillconvalescingandin-and-outofhospitals,ByrnereturnedtoStanfordanddiscoveredthatinjustafew yearsithadstartedreorientingonaWokeagenda Hefoundhimselfreactingagainstthisacademicenvironment “I foundmyselfshiftingmoretowardspoliticalphilosophy,tryingtounderstandhowpeoplewhoweregood,decent, and smart in so many ways could be willing to jettison the values and principles underlying Constitutional republicanismforstale,uninformedMarxistbromides”
DuringandaftercompletinghisPhD,Byrneworkedinavarietyofentrepreneurialendeavors.Hewasinvolvedwith liquidatingrealestateoutoftheS&Lcrisis,workedonWallStreetforayear,andledalanddealinvolvingthe construction of a casino in Colorado. He then led a variety of investment groups making small investments in businessdealsinnorthernNewEnglandandaroundthecounty
“AJiffyLubeinFloridaneededtobeboughtoutfromTWApilotgettingadivorce We’dbuyit,tweakitabit, refinanceandgetthecapitalintorealestateinManchester,NewHampshire Thensellthatprojecttogetthecapital intoaprintingcompanyinProvidence,RhodeIsland ThenaFixed-Base-OperatoratanairportinNewJersey On andon”
“WehiredsomeengineersandmadeahugeinnovationinComputerNumericallyControlledAutomation(“CNC Automation”) by building the first CNC controllers not using specially-burned EPROM (“Electronically ProgrammedRead-OnlyMemory”)chipsandsimilarexpensivecomponents,butfromoff-the-shelfparts.Inthat wayweharnessedthepricingpoweroftheconsumerelectronicsrevolutionandreducedthecostofmakingaCNCcontrollerbyabout80percent Wewerethefirstintheworldtodothis,anditsothreatenedtheCNCindustrythat wesoldfouryearslaterfor$24million Lookingback,itwasprobablyfartoocheap ButitgavemethecapitalI neededtogetgoing”
That is when Buffett called asked Byrne to come plug a gap for him for three months…that turned into two magicalyears.Byrnedescribesworkingforthemanwhohadbeenhis“Rabbi”sincehewasateenager,butitis clearhefeelsuncomfortablerevealingdetailsabouttheirfriendship.“Icantalkaboutthingshetaughtme,”says Byrne.“ButItendtoavoidgoingintodetailaboutourrelationship.Thatwasourdealfromthestart.”
Withnoventurecapitalorinstitutionalbacking,ByrnelaunchedOverstock HeranOverstockcomontheoldfashioned principles that Buffett had taught him rather than the new economics of the dot-com bubble Byrne pioneeredinnovationsindigitalmarketing(suchasintroducingWallStreetarbitragetechniquesintothenascent worldofonlineadvertising)andsupply-chains(suchas“agilenetworkedsupplychains”and“B2Cdrop-shipping”) thatbecamepartofthefabricofe-commerce InjustafewyearsByrneturnedOverstockprofitableontensof millions of dollars in capital compared to the hundreds of millions (or billions used by competitors such as Amazon)
Overtwentyyears,Byrne’s“onelastproject”emergedasa$2billiongiant,whileByrneearnedaccoladesas National Entrepreneur of the Year (2011)andOverstockasoneofthe 100 Most Trusted Businesses in America (2014)outof8,000publicfirms
F.THEHISTORICWALLSTREETSCUFFLE
ItwasduringthoseyearsthatByrnegotintohisnotoriousfightwithWallStreet.Hesaysthatasapubliccompany CEOstartingin2002,hewasmeetingwithvariousWallStreetplayers.Eventually,hesays,hebegantobetakento dinner and have muttered to him offers that began, Hey kid, we could make a lotta money together… if you ’ re willingtoplayball
In Byrne’s telling, he responded by doing what he thought any citizen would do: he reverse-engineered their schemesthenwenttotheauthoritiestoexplainwhatwasgoingon “Theirindolencewasoverwhelming,”Byrneadds
By2007thereweresomepeoplewhobeganwonderingifByrne’scriticismsofWallStreetwerecorrect.News stories appeared raising that possibility, such as a Bloomberg special entitled, Phantom Shares, which was nominatedforanEmmyAward
2 See THE FIRING OF AN SEC ATTORNEY AND THE INVESTIGATION OF PEQUOT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PREPARED BY THE MINORITY STAFF OF THE COMMITTEE ON FINANCE (Chairman CHARLES E GRASSLEY) AND THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE (ARLEN SPECTER Ranking Member) loaded at https://www deepcapture com/wp-content/uploads/36960 pdf
Weeksbeforehedied,FriedmancalledByrne,tellinghimthatheandRoseknewtheendwasnearandwantedto make a last change to the will They had decided to ask Byrne to take over leadership of the Milton & Rose FriedmanFoundationfortenyearsafterFriedman’sdeath,beforesteppingawayandchangingthename
Byrne proudly shows us a page from the National Education Association website in 2008, where the massive unionlisteditswell-knownopponents:Wal-MartandStarbuckswere#2and#3 ThereontheNEAwebsite,they namedtheunion’sPublicEnemy#1:PatrickByrne
FortenyearsByrneledtheMilton&RoseFriedmanFoundation Afteradecadehesteppeddownandchangedthe name to “The Foundation for Educational Choice” Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, it remains the intellectual centerofgravityofthenationalmovementforeducationalchoice,accordingtoByrne
What are Byrne’s political ambitions? Without hesitation Byrne replies, “Zero” Minutes later, Byrne is asked again,“Really:Whatareyourpoliticalambitions?”
In 2013, the largest firm in the world that was taking Bitcoin was a diner in Australia with $800,000/year in revenue “In dark corners of the internet, Bitcoin-devotees discussed when there might be a million-dollar/year businessthatwouldstartacceptingBitcoin,thenhowmanyyearsbeforea$10millionbusiness,howmanyyears beforea$100millionbusiness ”saysByrne
ForByrne,however,“therealattractionofBitcoinwasnotBitcoin,itwasthetechnologythatpowersBitcoin, called “blockchain.” The problem described in Federalist #10 by Madison, that institutions get captured and corrupted, had nagged at Byrne for decades. “What I saw in blockchain technology was that it was based on cryptography,whichistosay,thatareaofmathematicscalled‘ComputationTheory’thatIhadstudiedatStanford and about which I had had a religious experience I saw that one could recreate within blockchain the most importantinstitutionsholdingsocietytogether,andfinallyhaveinstitutionsthatcouldnotbecorrupted Wehave seenthatoligarchscancorrupttheSECandDOJ,theregulatorsandtheCongress,thepressandacademia butnot evenoligarchscancorruptthelawsofmathematics,”reasonsByrne
“IpickedouttheprocessesthatIthoughtwerethemostfundamentalprocessesofcivilizationthatwouldhaveto be turned into blockchain applications I started calling that set of processes, “The Blockchain Tech-Stack of
“Importantly, the whole thing had to be based on an Identity solution that respected the principle of ‘SelfSovereignIdentity’lestthewholethingturnintoatotalitariannightmare.”
