One that I don't go over there is this one: "he slips in 'total balance' (he can't do the equivalent of this with Monero either)"
I can. The total balance of a "one time pubkey" on monero is never higher than its initial balance. It can get lower, but only if that address has shown up in a ring sig later. When I made that post, it hadn't shown up in a ring sig yet, and I know this because it didn't have 10 confirmations yet when I made the post, and monero doesn't let you spend an output til it has 10 confirmations. I have not checked to see if it has been used in a ring sig yet, but if it hasn't, then I know its balance is still the amount I put in it.
quoting note1pjs…zvem> You can't tell me the total balance in my wallet
True, just the one address
> or the final destination either
I can tell you that: it's the address I identified. That was the final destination.
> I know at least the public key of the first hop involved (potentially final destination)
True, but knowing the first hop does not get you very far, even though it is potentially the final destination. At least not in countries where you need more than a maybe to put someone in jail.