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Bitcoin is the solution for the biggest problem of mankind: inflation. While economists are talking about how good it is, everybody else is complaining about p

Bitcoin is the solution for the biggest problem of mankind: inflation. While economists are talking about how good it is, everybody else is complaining about prices of everything going up.

Hammershaft 6y ago
Can you explain why you think inflation is the biggest problem of mankind?
- xiphias2 6y ago
  It destroys savings of people, they work for nothing. Most people in the world need savings that they can be used if they have some health issue, or lose their job. But as their savings lose value all the time, they become slaves to their own savings. I had the same thing happening to me before I started using Bitcoin as my savings account. Now I am able to offer every expensive cancer treatment to my girlfriend (TIL therapy) if her cancer doesn’t respond to her treatment (she’s in stage 4 :( )
  - yxhuvud 6y ago
    Most people have no savings to speak of and that is not the fault of inflation, so that is not a problem. And anyhow, I don't really see why the work of my grandparents should be valued equally by society as work that happens now.
    - xiphias2 6y ago
      It’s because your grandfather sacrificed himself so that you can have a better life. One of the most noble thing a person can do to his grandson. And I personally saw Bitcoin change people from a non-saver to saver. Also I know many poor people who save all the time without access to markets.
      - orwin 6y ago
        Last deflation in the us was 2007 to 2008, and the one prior to that was 1930 to 1933
      - imtringued 6y ago
        >It’s because your grandfather sacrificed himself so that you can have a better life. That's a pretty stupid argument. Why should everyone's life get worse from that point on, if it can get better for everyone involved?
  - PascLeRasc 6y ago
    It sounds like not having social safety nets are a bigger problem than inflation then.
  - Hammershaft 6y ago
    it seems there are more than enough commenters representing the other side of this argument so i'll just say i'm sorry to hear about your girlfriend's diagnosis :(
  - imtringued 6y ago
    >It destroys savings of people, they work for nothing. That's not true. Interest rates are usually slightly above inflation. Back when inflation was high you could get decent interest rates on your bank account to compensate. Nowadays with super low inflation the Fed is getting desperate and consumer banks are handing out money to anyone. I got two unwanted credit offers from two banks this week. Three years ago none of them would want to even talk with me, back when I really needed the money. >Now I am able to offer every expensive cancer treatment to my girlfriend (TIL therapy) if her cancer doesn’t respond to her treatment (she’s in stage 4 :( ) If Bitcoin merely stays ahead of inflation then you would expect a return of 3% per year. What you are seeing is more of a bubble fueled by the belief that the central bank will pump money into the markets forever. However, I'm glad that the bubble money is getting put to good use. Bitcoin is probably a more effective wealth equalizer than the Fed will ever be.
- midasuni 6y ago
  Clearly isn’t, but while inflation means more wealth to productive people, it slack increases the wealth of asset holders. Your cash goes down in value, your debt reduces, but your house increases in value, the rent you can charge goes up. Inflation helps those in debt with fixed interest payments which is great. It doesn’t effect those owning assets though.
otabdeveloper4 6y ago
Inflation isn't a problem, it's a benefit. With inflation it starts making sense to invest into human labor and knowledge instead of tangible physical things. Progress accelerates and income distribution becomes less of a power law. Inflation benefits you unless you're in the top 1 percent.
- uxcolumbo 6y ago
  Can you provide more details or share a link where this is explained? I don't get this: If purchasing power decreases - how does that benefit us?
  - orwin 6y ago
    Let's say the money is deflationary: the more you sit on it, the more you have. Why create a company or invest in one when you're sure that you will still get richer by doing nothing? Just keep cash under your pillow and wait! Now let say your parents died when you were young and all the inheritance was used for your phd in math. Who will pay you when the ROI on math discovery is so low? Every dollar you receive will make your employer poorer. You will have to become a teacher, but then, who will you teach? Other future teacher? Us had deflationary events. From 1930 to 1933 an 2007-2008 more recently.
  - imtringued 6y ago
    If you pay less for goods the salary of the producer has to be compensated downwards to match the fall in price. Essentially your salary is going down every year. Your highest salary will be in your 20s and from that point on you will earn less and less. Now imagine that your dad is a wealthy business man in the 20th century. He keeps all his wealth in dollars and never does anything with the wealth. You inherit his dollars and will become more wealthy than your father will ever be just from deflation alone, without having to do anything to earn the additional wealth. Here's the irony. Old people are entirely dependent on the work of young people. Once old people retire and decide to spend their money it will be worthless because there won't be enough young workers to provide for all their spending. It's simply not possible to buy enough apples and water in your 20s to last until your 80s. The ability to save money over long periods of time would imply that such a thing is possible. A dollar is basically the promise that someone, somewhere in the US will work for you and provide you with a service or good. The value of the dollar is entirely dependent on the existence of an economy that lets you exchange the dollar for a service or good. In short, the dollar is backed by the economy of the US. If that economy disappears or shrinks then so does the value of your dollar. By having an inflationary currency you basically promise that future income will be greater than current income. Businesses love growing incomes and grow their business accordingly and employ workers along the way. Thus the existence of an economy that allows you to exchange dollars for goods and services is guaranteed. It's quite easy to see how deflation is bad for business. You put money into resource inputs and transform them into goods. With deflation you want to buy as late as possible and sell as early as possible. The obvious problem with this is that you must produce before you sell. It's not possible to buy inputs after selling the product. Any company that keeps an inventory of goods is discouraged to do so because the value of the goods is constantly going down.
UncleMeat 6y ago
Even if inflation is a problem, there is no chance it is even close to the biggest. Climate change? War? Starvation? Malaria? Naw, my libertarian utopia is more important. Further, btc is currently inflating faster than usd and will continue to inflate for a century.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> Bitcoin is the solution for the biggest problem of mankind: inflation. Wow. I've heard some really narrow and privileged perspectives in my time, but that one is really something.
imtringued 6y ago
If you had said deflation then I would have agreed. If you want a well functioning economy with full employment then you do need a bit of inflation. The problem with the current central bank strategies is that they don't serve anyone, not even the central bank. QE and low or even negative interest rates are supply side economics. Supply side economics are becoming increasingly less relevant as globalization marches on, foreign markets expand, automation causes skill churn and the economy shifts to higher skill professions. >While economists are talking about how good it is, everybody else is complaining about prices of everything going up. If prices are going up that's a price signal for a growing industry. It means it becomes easier for companies to expand and thus employ more people. Of course, in practice local governments have made it almost impossible for markets to provide for basic needs like housing. It's really shocking to me how many people see a housing boom and their first response is to stop building more housing. It's like shutting an oil well down because oil has become too profitable.

Bitcoin is the solution for the biggest problem of mankind: inflation. While economists are talking about how good it is, everybody else is complaining about prices of everything going up.

Hammershaft 6y ago

Can you explain why you think inflation is the biggest problem of mankind?

xiphias2 6y ago
It destroys savings of people, they work for nothing. Most people in the world need savings that they can be used if they have some health issue, or lose their job. But as their savings lose value all the time, they become slaves to their own savings. I had the same thing happening to me before I started using Bitcoin as my savings account. Now I am able to offer every expensive cancer treatment to my girlfriend (TIL therapy) if her cancer doesn’t respond to her treatment (she’s in stage 4 :( )
- yxhuvud 6y ago
  Most people have no savings to speak of and that is not the fault of inflation, so that is not a problem. And anyhow, I don't really see why the work of my grandparents should be valued equally by society as work that happens now.
  - xiphias2 6y ago
    It’s because your grandfather sacrificed himself so that you can have a better life. One of the most noble thing a person can do to his grandson. And I personally saw Bitcoin change people from a non-saver to saver. Also I know many poor people who save all the time without access to markets.
    - orwin 6y ago
      Last deflation in the us was 2007 to 2008, and the one prior to that was 1930 to 1933
    - imtringued 6y ago
      >It’s because your grandfather sacrificed himself so that you can have a better life. That's a pretty stupid argument. Why should everyone's life get worse from that point on, if it can get better for everyone involved?
- PascLeRasc 6y ago
  It sounds like not having social safety nets are a bigger problem than inflation then.
- Hammershaft 6y ago
  it seems there are more than enough commenters representing the other side of this argument so i'll just say i'm sorry to hear about your girlfriend's diagnosis :(
- imtringued 6y ago
  >It destroys savings of people, they work for nothing. That's not true. Interest rates are usually slightly above inflation. Back when inflation was high you could get decent interest rates on your bank account to compensate. Nowadays with super low inflation the Fed is getting desperate and consumer banks are handing out money to anyone. I got two unwanted credit offers from two banks this week. Three years ago none of them would want to even talk with me, back when I really needed the money. >Now I am able to offer every expensive cancer treatment to my girlfriend (TIL therapy) if her cancer doesn’t respond to her treatment (she’s in stage 4 :( ) If Bitcoin merely stays ahead of inflation then you would expect a return of 3% per year. What you are seeing is more of a bubble fueled by the belief that the central bank will pump money into the markets forever. However, I'm glad that the bubble money is getting put to good use. Bitcoin is probably a more effective wealth equalizer than the Fed will ever be.
midasuni 6y ago
Clearly isn’t, but while inflation means more wealth to productive people, it slack increases the wealth of asset holders. Your cash goes down in value, your debt reduces, but your house increases in value, the rent you can charge goes up. Inflation helps those in debt with fixed interest payments which is great. It doesn’t effect those owning assets though.

otabdeveloper4 6y ago

Inflation isn't a problem, it's a benefit. With inflation it starts making sense to invest into human labor and knowledge instead of tangible physical things. Progress accelerates and income distribution becomes less of a power law. Inflation benefits you unless you're in the top 1 percent.

uxcolumbo 6y ago
Can you provide more details or share a link where this is explained? I don't get this: If purchasing power decreases - how does that benefit us?
- orwin 6y ago
  Let's say the money is deflationary: the more you sit on it, the more you have. Why create a company or invest in one when you're sure that you will still get richer by doing nothing? Just keep cash under your pillow and wait! Now let say your parents died when you were young and all the inheritance was used for your phd in math. Who will pay you when the ROI on math discovery is so low? Every dollar you receive will make your employer poorer. You will have to become a teacher, but then, who will you teach? Other future teacher? Us had deflationary events. From 1930 to 1933 an 2007-2008 more recently.
- imtringued 6y ago
  If you pay less for goods the salary of the producer has to be compensated downwards to match the fall in price. Essentially your salary is going down every year. Your highest salary will be in your 20s and from that point on you will earn less and less. Now imagine that your dad is a wealthy business man in the 20th century. He keeps all his wealth in dollars and never does anything with the wealth. You inherit his dollars and will become more wealthy than your father will ever be just from deflation alone, without having to do anything to earn the additional wealth. Here's the irony. Old people are entirely dependent on the work of young people. Once old people retire and decide to spend their money it will be worthless because there won't be enough young workers to provide for all their spending. It's simply not possible to buy enough apples and water in your 20s to last until your 80s. The ability to save money over long periods of time would imply that such a thing is possible. A dollar is basically the promise that someone, somewhere in the US will work for you and provide you with a service or good. The value of the dollar is entirely dependent on the existence of an economy that lets you exchange the dollar for a service or good. In short, the dollar is backed by the economy of the US. If that economy disappears or shrinks then so does the value of your dollar. By having an inflationary currency you basically promise that future income will be greater than current income. Businesses love growing incomes and grow their business accordingly and employ workers along the way. Thus the existence of an economy that allows you to exchange dollars for goods and services is guaranteed. It's quite easy to see how deflation is bad for business. You put money into resource inputs and transform them into goods. With deflation you want to buy as late as possible and sell as early as possible. The obvious problem with this is that you must produce before you sell. It's not possible to buy inputs after selling the product. Any company that keeps an inventory of goods is discouraged to do so because the value of the goods is constantly going down.

UncleMeat 6y ago

Even if inflation is a problem, there is no chance it is even close to the biggest. Climate change? War? Starvation? Malaria? Naw, my libertarian utopia is more important. Further, btc is currently inflating faster than usd and will continue to inflate for a century.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago

> Bitcoin is the solution for the biggest problem of mankind: inflation. Wow. I've heard some really narrow and privileged perspectives in my time, but that one is really something.

imtringued 6y ago

If you had said deflation then I would have agreed. If you want a well functioning economy with full employment then you do need a bit of inflation. The problem with the current central bank strategies is that they don't serve anyone, not even the central bank. QE and low or even negative interest rates are supply side economics. Supply side economics are becoming increasingly less relevant as globalization marches on, foreign markets expand, automation causes skill churn and the economy shifts to higher skill professions. >While economists are talking about how good it is, everybody else is complaining about prices of everything going up. If prices are going up that's a price signal for a growing industry. It means it becomes easier for companies to expand and thus employ more people. Of course, in practice local governments have made it almost impossible for markets to provide for basic needs like housing. It's really shocking to me how many people see a housing boom and their first response is to stop building more housing. It's like shutting an oil well down because oil has become too profitable.