5 ms·

Interesting how this narrative is forming. Politicians and bureaucrats around the globe are saying the same things in unison. BTC is framed as destructive or d

Interesting how this narrative is forming. Politicians and bureaucrats around the globe are saying the same things in unison. BTC is framed as destructive or dangerous and CBDC is their solution. The same conclusion was arrived at in a recent Senate hearing chaired by Elizabeth Warren. Three out of four of her panelists had connections to the World Economic Forum. The fourth had connections to the US central bank. https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/building-a-stronger-financial-system-opportunities-of-a-central-bank-digital-currency https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/building-a-stronger-... https://www.weforum.org/people/neha-narula https://www.weforum.org/people/neha-narula https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/darrell-duffie https://www.weforum.org/agenda/authors/darrell-duffie https://digitaldollarproject.org/ https://digitaldollarproject.org/

rualca 5y ago
> BTC is framed as destructive or dangerous and CBDC is their solution. It's hard to refute their point when we've just saw bitcoin tanking and seeing its value drop to half in a few days.
- snypher 5y ago
  Sounds like we should ban options trading also.
  - ur-whale 5y ago
    >Sounds like we should ban options trading also. Or oil and real estate. They keep going up and down in a completely unpredictable manner !
  - aww_dang 5y ago
    According to this logic, perhaps we should give the plunge protection team a mandate to guarantee BTC price stability and protect consumers from "danger"?
  - cmh89 5y ago
    Options trading has far more structure to try and keep you from hurting yourself than crypto does.
    - snypher 5y ago
      It sure does, I just have to click 'next' on a bunch of Robinhood screens. As an unsophisticated investor, at least with crypto I can 'just' lose all my money, and not be under the impression I owe someone $100k+.
- 127 5y ago
  One defining aspect of a free market is destruction. The other is creation. You don't get one without the other.
  - ben_w 5y ago
    On the contrary, the core thesis of Wealth of Nations is that a free market in an industrial economy is not zero-sum. Creation exceeds destruction, and the former does not require the latter.
    - imtringued 5y ago
      >On the contrary, the core thesis of Wealth of Nations is that a free market in an industrial economy is not zero-sum. Technically yes, but there are always exceptions. Just because a well oiled and well functioning free market economy can be positive sum doesn't mean we have such an economy. Things can get really weird and backwards over the short term. The problem is that the short term can last decades and may waste a quarter of a human's life and cause irreparable damage. Therefore we should make the economy as positive sum as possible. For example, we have in our mind that every single individual is supposed to take care of themselves. This implies that we have to contribute to society by working but full employment isn't guaranteed, there there may be a large chunk of the population that is without a job over the short term. The pandemic is a pretty good example. A simple solution would be to just give them a temporary job, even if the job is stupid or pointless (think Keynesian gold digging). These people receive a salary and proceed to spend it on actually useful things, which will create useful jobs. By useful I just mean something someone wants, a government deciding to produce something may produce something nobody wants (see the Trabant). Those products not only need labor but also natural resources so they are twice as wasteful. Of course you can skip this whole work thing and just declare that finding a job is your job and increase unemployment benefits like Biden did. Of course there will be some inflation but economic activity is a good thing.
      - ben_w 5y ago
        Sure. My context is purely with regard to the massive Bitcoin price instability, where I am denying the other comment that such is an unavoidable part of a free market, I am not any broader claim regarding the extent to which free markets are or are not also efficient markets.
defaultname 5y ago
There is nothing conspiratorial or notable that most of the people in the financial industry...work in the financial industry. Are experienced in the financial industry.
- aww_dang 5y ago
  As a think tank the WEF has a distinct public policy slant and agenda. Not all economists are members. If we're operating under the premises of democracy, there's something troublesome about a single think-tank and their unelected technocrats dictating public policy. One would expect at least some dissenting views in the conversation. As it concerns the individual's freedom to transact in the cryptocurrency of his choice, longtime proponents of a cashless society have a distinct bias.
bart_spoon 5y ago
It never ceases to amuse how one group of people can see the worlds politicians, policy experts, and activists start to converge on an idea, and rather than assuming that the idea they are converging around is sound, they instead assume its due to a secretive cabal looking to further oppress the common man. Assume for a moment that BTC actually was destructive and dangerous. What would you expect the response to be from these people?
- aww_dang 5y ago
  Continue to promote a cashless society, ID2020 and social credit scores. https://decrypt.co/25190/the-world-is-accelerating-towards-digital-ids-for-all https://decrypt.co/25190/the-world-is-accelerating-towards-d...

rualca 5y ago

> BTC is framed as destructive or dangerous and CBDC is their solution. It's hard to refute their point when we've just saw bitcoin tanking and seeing its value drop to half in a few days.

snypher 5y ago
Sounds like we should ban options trading also.
- ur-whale 5y ago
  >Sounds like we should ban options trading also. Or oil and real estate. They keep going up and down in a completely unpredictable manner !
- aww_dang 5y ago
  According to this logic, perhaps we should give the plunge protection team a mandate to guarantee BTC price stability and protect consumers from "danger"?
- cmh89 5y ago
  Options trading has far more structure to try and keep you from hurting yourself than crypto does.
  - snypher 5y ago
    It sure does, I just have to click 'next' on a bunch of Robinhood screens. As an unsophisticated investor, at least with crypto I can 'just' lose all my money, and not be under the impression I owe someone $100k+.
127 5y ago
One defining aspect of a free market is destruction. The other is creation. You don't get one without the other.
- ben_w 5y ago
  On the contrary, the core thesis of Wealth of Nations is that a free market in an industrial economy is not zero-sum. Creation exceeds destruction, and the former does not require the latter.
  - imtringued 5y ago
    >On the contrary, the core thesis of Wealth of Nations is that a free market in an industrial economy is not zero-sum. Technically yes, but there are always exceptions. Just because a well oiled and well functioning free market economy can be positive sum doesn't mean we have such an economy. Things can get really weird and backwards over the short term. The problem is that the short term can last decades and may waste a quarter of a human's life and cause irreparable damage. Therefore we should make the economy as positive sum as possible. For example, we have in our mind that every single individual is supposed to take care of themselves. This implies that we have to contribute to society by working but full employment isn't guaranteed, there there may be a large chunk of the population that is without a job over the short term. The pandemic is a pretty good example. A simple solution would be to just give them a temporary job, even if the job is stupid or pointless (think Keynesian gold digging). These people receive a salary and proceed to spend it on actually useful things, which will create useful jobs. By useful I just mean something someone wants, a government deciding to produce something may produce something nobody wants (see the Trabant). Those products not only need labor but also natural resources so they are twice as wasteful. Of course you can skip this whole work thing and just declare that finding a job is your job and increase unemployment benefits like Biden did. Of course there will be some inflation but economic activity is a good thing.
    - ben_w 5y ago
      Sure. My context is purely with regard to the massive Bitcoin price instability, where I am denying the other comment that such is an unavoidable part of a free market, I am not any broader claim regarding the extent to which free markets are or are not also efficient markets.

defaultname 5y ago

There is nothing conspiratorial or notable that most of the people in the financial industry...work in the financial industry. Are experienced in the financial industry.

aww_dang 5y ago
As a think tank the WEF has a distinct public policy slant and agenda. Not all economists are members. If we're operating under the premises of democracy, there's something troublesome about a single think-tank and their unelected technocrats dictating public policy. One would expect at least some dissenting views in the conversation. As it concerns the individual's freedom to transact in the cryptocurrency of his choice, longtime proponents of a cashless society have a distinct bias.

bart_spoon 5y ago

It never ceases to amuse how one group of people can see the worlds politicians, policy experts, and activists start to converge on an idea, and rather than assuming that the idea they are converging around is sound, they instead assume its due to a secretive cabal looking to further oppress the common man. Assume for a moment that BTC actually was destructive and dangerous. What would you expect the response to be from these people?

aww_dang 5y ago
Continue to promote a cashless society, ID2020 and social credit scores. https://decrypt.co/25190/the-world-is-accelerating-towards-digital-ids-for-all https://decrypt.co/25190/the-world-is-accelerating-towards-d...