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> It's not even half as bizarre as someone buying a GIF of some cartoon cats as a sort of cryptocurrency token. I think it is considerably more bizarre. Peopl

by JadeNB 5y ago

> It's not even half as bizarre as someone buying a GIF of some cartoon cats as a sort of cryptocurrency token. I think it is considerably more bizarre. People have always done strange things with their money; NFTs have made it maybe more visible, and have certainly dressed it up in new tech-y buzzwords, but they've hardly introduced the idea of spending money in strange and stupid ways. But I am considerably more upset about whole countries' economies being founded on strange and stupid decisions than I am on individuals making such decisions. (Which is not to say that I could, or know how to, do any better; we're just comparing bizarre-ness, not solutions.)

panarky 5y ago
> I think it is considerably more bizarre It's only bizarre when you believe that money is a concrete, tangible thing with unchanging intrinsic value. When you believe that then of course it seems wrong and unnatural to create new money out of thin air.
- deleted 5y ago
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- kazinator 5y ago
  We can see it as a form of taxation. Isn't the following approximately right: suppose that some country has a net worth of 10B (calculated somehow). The government decides that it needs some cash, so it prints another 10B of that currency and injects it into the system. Well, all it has done is devalue the currency by half, thereby looting half the economy of half its value, transferring that to the government. It's just a ploy to steal 5B by declaring it to be government property, which is possible since every instance of money is a tiny abstract contract which is controlled by the government's treasury/mint. It's like issuing new stock to raise cash, without any increase in the total market valuation, which nothing but a cash grab from the current share holders made possible by controlling the issuance of stock.
  - bryanlarsen 5y ago
    The coin is used to offset bonds. It's not increasing the money supply. The money supply is increased by government spending. The US economy grows by approximately $700B per year. (23T * 3%). Therefore as a first approximation the money supply needs to grow at approximately $700B per year. If the government deficit is less than that, it acts as a brake on the economy. When the government spends money, it buys stuff with that money. Whether that is inflationary depends on how rivalrous the spending is -- IOW if it's competing with private money for that stuff or it's buying stuff that nobody else would ever want to buy.

by JadeNB 5y ago

panarky 5y ago

> I think it is considerably more bizarre It's only bizarre when you believe that money is a concrete, tangible thing with unchanging intrinsic value. When you believe that then of course it seems wrong and unnatural to create new money out of thin air.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
kazinator 5y ago
We can see it as a form of taxation. Isn't the following approximately right: suppose that some country has a net worth of 10B (calculated somehow). The government decides that it needs some cash, so it prints another 10B of that currency and injects it into the system. Well, all it has done is devalue the currency by half, thereby looting half the economy of half its value, transferring that to the government. It's just a ploy to steal 5B by declaring it to be government property, which is possible since every instance of money is a tiny abstract contract which is controlled by the government's treasury/mint. It's like issuing new stock to raise cash, without any increase in the total market valuation, which nothing but a cash grab from the current share holders made possible by controlling the issuance of stock.
- bryanlarsen 5y ago
  The coin is used to offset bonds. It's not increasing the money supply. The money supply is increased by government spending. The US economy grows by approximately $700B per year. (23T * 3%). Therefore as a first approximation the money supply needs to grow at approximately $700B per year. If the government deficit is less than that, it acts as a brake on the economy. When the government spends money, it buys stuff with that money. Whether that is inflationary depends on how rivalrous the spending is -- IOW if it's competing with private money for that stuff or it's buying stuff that nobody else would ever want to buy.