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First, I'd like to really understand why people say crypto "escapes inflation". The only argument has been the artificial scarcity mechanisms built in the curre
by Fern_Blossom 6y ago
First, I'd like to really understand why people say crypto "escapes inflation". The only argument has been the artificial scarcity mechanisms built in the currency. Scarcity is a seasoning to the concept of value, not the main course. I don't know of anyone in economics in the last 100 years that has ever pushed forward the idea that scarcity is all you need to create value... except for Youtube economic cartoons.
"Fiat currency" isn't backed by violence. It's backed by production in goods and/or services. You can see this easily play out in command-control economies. The resource rich, like Venezuela back in the day, was a prosperous country for a few years. Gov controlled oil meant that's how they made money. When the price of a barrel of oil is high, they just pump that oil, increasing the need of the international community to purchase their currency, bringing up the value. When their oil wasn't needed due to diversification of supply and the drop in price, no one "wants" said currency since the country had nothing anyone wanted. Thus, the value goes down and you have hyperinflation due to high economic specialization. All the military equipment they bought and posturing, which led to a hilarious wannabe propaganda-scare video, during the good years didn't amount to shit. You really think if Bitcoin magically became the almighty currency, war would disappear? I'm serious when I say this, quit watching Sesame Street and other children's shows. Be an adult. Read a history book. No good change will come from praying to unicorns.
On average, less than 1% of a country's population is active law enforcement in the western world. It's just a hair over 1% in the US according to Bureau of Labor numbers and that includes all the admin/support/not-arresting LE as well. Y'all need to quit looking underneath your beds and checking your closest for the blue boogey man. They do a whole hell of a lot more than just "protect the banks". That's what G4S does with their tactical muffin tops. At that, here's a good example of the difference between what a police officer can do and what a sheriff deputy can do: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/06/06/137002727/sweet-justice-a-florida-couple-forecloses-on-bank-of-america https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/06/06/137002727... This happens more often than you think throughout the country. We don't hear about it because banks and other financial institutions swiftly put gag clauses in settlements. Banks do a fantastic job of teaching you how you can't use the justice system in your favor when in reality, you have more power than you imagine. Stop watching them youtube videos and go to the local library to learn more about local laws and procedures.
Contest ownership... yea, still a problem with Bitcoin. Just look up "Bitcoin stolen" in your search engine of choice and there's article, after article, after article of theft and a cold day in hell's chance of retrieving it. There's nothing special there on that front. It's a preferred means of trade for the black market for a good reason.
On one level, I don't care about the crypto ponzi scheme being played out. Let it happen. Madoff tricked a whole hell of a lot of people for around 20 years. Good. What ruffles my feathers, pushing a political agenda because you want to be rich in monopoly money, then use it to buy ice cream. Then throwing a fit because the cashier won't accept it. Yea, the amount of excess CO2 created by crypto mining is a valid and big problem. It's another industrial sized country on the world grid because of it. You act like this is some magic cure for "the poors", to help distribute wealth and other fantasies. Because there's a magic mechanism for a rich cat in USD to not do the same in BTC? The same way they garnered wealth in USD, GBP, JPY or EUR will do the same thing in any other new currency, making the point to the "revolution" null and void. Oh wait, Musk already started that. What's that, they found a good way for a loophole in being able to issue refunds in USD or BTC according to how they see fit depending which is cheaper? Yea, that sweet sweet "for the people" currency not going into the hands of the, what is he now, 3rd richest? 2nd richest? But I guess that makes him a fellow poor too since he's not 1st. Great step forward for that great reset. Let me tell ya'.
- louwrentius 6y agoThank you for this. I am serious. I wish you would put this on a blog somewhere and not let this gem die in de depths of H... HN.
- athrowaway3z 6y agoThis paper and this comment sound like cognitive dissonance between monetary theory and psychological reality. Don't get me wrong, crypto's price is a ponzi scheme build on fomo. Scarcity shouldn't be the only thing required to create value. But here we all are proving time and time again that psychology at scale _can_ at times be more powerful then economic theory. Also: > With a blanket ban on cryptocurrency, the economic engine of the American system would do what it does best, a new wave of investment from the private sector would be redirected back into productive enterprises and new ventures that could strengthen US markets and the Dollar instead of undermining it. American banking infrastructure was antiquated and rotting in its own success before bitcoin was a thing. Paying money with a phone is still considered 'innovation' in the US as far as I've heard, lagging the EU, India, and China by a decade. > Halt all wire transfers of dollars in and out of cryptocurrency exchanges. > Halt foreign entities trading in dollar cash-equivalent crypto assets. > Add Chinese and other foreign cryptocurrency exchanges hiding in tax-havens to sanctioned entities lists. > Regulate the sale of any existing cryptocurrency assets to US persons by classifying them as securities investment contracts moving forward. I'm not sure what the Dollar is going to be in 20 years, but if the US did this, historians would look back at this action starting a new global divide that ends in war and/or the collapse of the US dollar. Which brings up another point that gets glossed over but should be stated at least once in this context: The status of USD as a reserve currency for every bank around the world is what allows America to print so much money. It is a national security issue and the US will use force if the position is at risk. And in the smoldering ruins of some unnamed city, someone can trade his bitcoins to buy a can of pre-war chicken and a pack of cigarettes because bitcoin escaped inflation.