3 ms·

> 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 yo

> 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.

3 ms·

> 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 yo

by panarky 5y ago

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.