Gains made in foreign currency are also taxable events when you exchange them and yes they are done based on the value at the time of exchange (when dealing in foreign currencies you keep records of your exchange rates). The government doesn't care what currency you accept or trade in, you report based on your profits and losses in the country you are doing business.

Barter transactions are taxable in most countries of the world.

unless the actual source is provided that made said promise and it was someone that you would expect to be able to make such a promise then yes the facts pretty much say the story shouldn't be believed as all the verifiable facts contradict it.

No they don't, they are a business, paypal have no say how financial transactions are regulated, nor do they issue or control a currency system. You may as well start comparing bitcoin to a corner store. If you want to do a monetary comparison then you need to compare to an actual financial institution that is responsible for issuing a currency. The reason you are using paypal is that bitcoin compares VERY badly to any real insititution with government backing. You are now going completely against what bitcoin is supposed to be about by directly saying bitcoin is not a currency and that it is merely an unregulated business entity.

paypal is not a bank or exchange, nor do they issue a currency, they are just a business (even so they do operate under MANY regulations). So why are you using them as an example. Use The US Dollar and banks or any other currency and their associated financial institutions. You have basically singled out a business rather than part of the financial system to try to build your strawman.

So as I said, what does bitcoin Add? Not a bloody thing. To be successful it will need to be regulated, once it is regulated it loses its one differentiator. The currency is an interesting experiment, but it certainly has failed pretty badly in its attempts to become a currency.

So in other words, it has no protections from you being screwed over by banks, exchanges, other people etc and hence is a REALLY bad currency for the general population.

and what does bitcoin add that isn't already possible with the existing system? I can do all of that without bitcoins, don't get me wrong I see plenty wrong with the existing monetary systems and the way they are manipulated, but bitcoin adds absolutely nothing while taking away plenty of the benefits and safeguards.

interestingly it actually fails all its own tests. It isn't stable, certainly isn't fast or inexpensive and it most definitely isn't widely accepted. and assuming the early people will benefit from rise in value sounds dangerously close to being a Ponzi, the only thing saving them from being one is they aren't making a guarantee on the rise.

The PC Market even it is current state sells 70 million+ units a quarter, The PS and Xbox lifetime combined sales won't even come close to even this years reduced PC sales numbers. If AMD are reliant on the cut price console industry to help them then they are in dire trouble, at best the consoles provide a some pocket money as they will be selling in bulk orders with very low margins.

nothing weird here at all, commodity vs reliability. Stable, tested proven chips generally stay one step behind. consumer commodity chips give them a chance to weed out any problems without placing risks on chip lines that simply MUST work.

nothing new here, Apple have always put profits before security

A PC from 4 years ago at that price would be a top end i7 with a 5870 or better in it hmmmm I don't think a ps4 is going to outperform that. It is going to be similar on graphics but way behind on processor. If you have to resort to comparing to 4 year old tech and still fall short I think that is pretty fair justification to say the ps4 was outdated from the day it was released.

refuges would NOT have prevented resistance, it may have slowed the development of the resistances but only by a few years at most.

Why is that insightful? allowing ignorance as a valid defence is a terrible idea, especially if it is in the field you are working in. If you are manufacturing items it is not unreasonable that you are familiar with the laws around those items. Ignorance may be something that is taken into account when handing out the sentencing/punishment/fines, but it most definitely shouldn't be a defence. If you are importing an a cheap knockoff why is it unreasonable to expect someone to check they aren't infringing on import or trademark laws in that area.