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The solution is to be long in anti-fragile assets such as bitcoins and gold. If approximately everybody else is getting it wrong about degrees, the economy and

The solution is to be long in anti-fragile assets such as bitcoins and gold. If approximately everybody else is getting it wrong about degrees, the economy and the value of its fragile assets, especially paper money, will shrink systematically, while my assets will keep gaining value. In that sense, it is better to encourage most other people to get it wrong. Hence, they should get MORE useless degrees and saddle themselves with MORE stupid and MORE enormous student loans. That is what will eventually sink the boat completely and make me more money.

NotSammyHagar 9y ago
Come on, bitcoin and gold are very fragile. Look at their huge variation in value over short time frames. A new crypocurrency could arrive to take bitcoins place, also, or govt regulation could make it hard to use in the us or china. There might be an argument for diversifying your investments in these things, but these aren't the certain safe places to put your money for long term.
- nebabyte 9y ago
  Yup, and inb4 "it's anon so impossible to regulate". You're not fighting someone trying to stop you from purchasing it, you're fighting an apathetic system that will go with "whatever works" and isn't a pain in the ass to use. All it takes is for some litigators to decide that operating businesses anonymously is illegal, and now those "anonymous customers" could be police stings making your "system" more trouble than it's worth to use anonymously. Truly-anonymous currency is either a fantasy or will only exist in niche markets. In reality all they really have to do is scare people at the point of sale, and the point of sale is by the nature of markets not hard-to-find or 'hear about on the street' (because it has to attain customers).
alexmingoia 9y ago
How do you think student loans will "sink the boat completely"? They aren't traded, the money is mainly owed to public institions and banks, and it isn't the biggest piece of the debt pie. I'm even more confused how you think gold and bitcoin are hedges against a crash in the dollar. Historically, real gold returns have been worse during higher inflation. And during previous currency devaluations, holding commodities only worked out if you held the right ones. Oil has done far better than gold depending on which time period. Foreign currency can do just as well and is easier to trade than gold. To properly hedge the dollar you need to hold more then just bitcoin and gold, you would need silver, oil, and a basket of currencies as well.
nebabyte 9y ago
> especially paper money (A) someone either forgot about or doesn't grasp the scale of the derivatives market (B) Given the choice (and that's assuming they're given a choice) between the long-standing fiat-based currency we currently have in which the skilled already have some measure of "wealth", and a system that largely favors unknown entities and a bunch of smelly basement-dwellers who had leftover pizza money back in the aughts, guess which one the people will go with lol

NotSammyHagar 9y ago

Come on, bitcoin and gold are very fragile. Look at their huge variation in value over short time frames. A new crypocurrency could arrive to take bitcoins place, also, or govt regulation could make it hard to use in the us or china. There might be an argument for diversifying your investments in these things, but these aren't the certain safe places to put your money for long term.

nebabyte 9y ago
Yup, and inb4 "it's anon so impossible to regulate". You're not fighting someone trying to stop you from purchasing it, you're fighting an apathetic system that will go with "whatever works" and isn't a pain in the ass to use. All it takes is for some litigators to decide that operating businesses anonymously is illegal, and now those "anonymous customers" could be police stings making your "system" more trouble than it's worth to use anonymously. Truly-anonymous currency is either a fantasy or will only exist in niche markets. In reality all they really have to do is scare people at the point of sale, and the point of sale is by the nature of markets not hard-to-find or 'hear about on the street' (because it has to attain customers).

alexmingoia 9y ago

How do you think student loans will "sink the boat completely"? They aren't traded, the money is mainly owed to public institions and banks, and it isn't the biggest piece of the debt pie. I'm even more confused how you think gold and bitcoin are hedges against a crash in the dollar. Historically, real gold returns have been worse during higher inflation. And during previous currency devaluations, holding commodities only worked out if you held the right ones. Oil has done far better than gold depending on which time period. Foreign currency can do just as well and is easier to trade than gold. To properly hedge the dollar you need to hold more then just bitcoin and gold, you would need silver, oil, and a basket of currencies as well.

nebabyte 9y ago

> especially paper money (A) someone either forgot about or doesn't grasp the scale of the derivatives market (B) Given the choice (and that's assuming they're given a choice) between the long-standing fiat-based currency we currently have in which the skilled already have some measure of "wealth", and a system that largely favors unknown entities and a bunch of smelly basement-dwellers who had leftover pizza money back in the aughts, guess which one the people will go with lol