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> the only point of it is to buy it low, and sell high, for USD Until the point that nobody wants to be the USD bag holder. Plenty of boomers still don’t thin

> the only point of it is to buy it low, and sell high, for USD Until the point that nobody wants to be the USD bag holder. Plenty of boomers still don’t think of saving USD as a terrible idea because they were trained their whole life to have faith in it. They are being robbed in plain sight, sadly. But younger generations won’t put up with it.

dale_glass 5y ago
BTC is completely unsuitable to be used as a currency, since it's deflationary. Would you buy a car if waiting meant you could have it at half price? Of course not, that'd be stupid. So you'll sit on your hoard, while the economy implodes.
- eric_cc 5y ago
  How sad would it be if Americans consumed less? Mindless consumption is the whole point of living!
- harambae 5y ago
  >Would you buy a car if waiting meant you could have it at half price? Apparently yes, a bunch of people are buying cars now at temporarily inflated prices when prices are expected to tank https://autos.yahoo.com/analysts-warn-possible-used-car-151000491.html https://autos.yahoo.com/analysts-warn-possible-used-car-1510...
- dwg465 5y ago
  It's not deflationary though.
  - smaryjerry 5y ago
    However, if everything else is inflationary then simply not inflating would be deflationary on a relative scale. It is a near zero chance that countries don’t keep inflation strong.
  - dale_glass 5y ago
    It is, by design. If you mean to say it's not deflationary because there's a limited amount of it that doesn't technically decrease, that doesn't help. First, Bitcoin does lose coins over time. When wallet keys are lost, or "dust" happens, that means that money can't ever be spent again. This is independent of the USD value. Second, the economy can grow. Eg, if the population grows, or a factory starts producing more goods, then there's now more stuff per unit of currency. That's still deflation.
- knocte 5y ago
  >Would you buy a car if waiting meant you could have it at half price? That's exactly what happens with computers and, last I heard, computers are still being purchased.
user_7832 5y ago
> Until the point that nobody wants to be the USD bag holder. Plenty of boomers still don’t think of saving USD as a terrible idea because they were trained their whole life to have faith in it. They are being robbed in plain sight, sadly. But younger generations won’t put up with it. I'm not sure whether you're opposed to the USD compared to other currencies, or cash in general opposed to stocks/bonds etc. For the former point, the US military's strength* ensures that the dollar is likely to stay the strongest of currencies even in a medium-term environment (say 50-100 years in my estimate), with only the Euro coming close. For the latter, I don't think that was what the earlier posters were talking about. * I'm not saying spending so much on the military is necessarily a good idea, neither am I a US citizen
AlexandrB 5y ago
I think this comment completely misunderstands what most people's savings are. 401Ks and the like are usually invested in a bunch of equities, bonds, and mutual funds. The value of these is commonly denominated in USD (if you live in the US), but they are not USD! Most people already don't "save" USD. They save equities and then trade them back into USD when it's time to retire. I don't see how BTC changes this other than adding another equity to the list of stuff you can invest in.
- eric_cc 5y ago
  Let’s assume BTC replaces fiat (USD). One way that it changes what you’ve described is that you wouldn’t be forced to gamble on equities or other assets to stay afloat. You’d have the option to simply hang on to your currency until another asset class enticed you enough to invest. It affords you some time to simply do nothing. Currently, you can’t afford to sit and wait and research assets. You need to stay out of fiat to stay afloat, constantly restructure your portfolio, etc. if you don’t do these things, you bleed buying power over time. With sound money, people could work and save without needing to constantly gamble just to maintain buying power.
  - guelo 5y ago
    If Bitcoin were to always increase in value (deflationary) there is a strong disincentive to ever buy anything with it. This makes it useless as a currency which means it can't replace USD. Why buy something now when you can buy it for less in the future? You could buy the famous pizza for a tiny fraction of a Bitcoin today
    - eric_cc 5y ago
      As long as we have fiat, bitcoin WILL always increase in value. Because bitcoin supply is capped and fiat will continue to lose buying power year after year. At this stage, there is no incentive to hold fiat and huge incentive to hold as much bitcoin as possible. If bitcoin replaces fiat, bitcoin becomes the main representation of value. It no longer goes up against a trading pair of fiat. I speculate that its buying power would stabilize and become fairly static.
Traster 5y ago
The obvious point is that anyone who wants to pay their taxes is going to be a "USD bagholder". Boomers generally don't save in USD. They save in USD denominated assets (like bitcoin). Interest rates being lower than inflation does rebalance the economy from wealth to income, but I actually think that's something we should encourage right now.

dale_glass 5y ago

BTC is completely unsuitable to be used as a currency, since it's deflationary. Would you buy a car if waiting meant you could have it at half price? Of course not, that'd be stupid. So you'll sit on your hoard, while the economy implodes.

eric_cc 5y ago
How sad would it be if Americans consumed less? Mindless consumption is the whole point of living!
harambae 5y ago
>Would you buy a car if waiting meant you could have it at half price? Apparently yes, a bunch of people are buying cars now at temporarily inflated prices when prices are expected to tank https://autos.yahoo.com/analysts-warn-possible-used-car-151000491.html https://autos.yahoo.com/analysts-warn-possible-used-car-1510...
dwg465 5y ago
It's not deflationary though.
- smaryjerry 5y ago
  However, if everything else is inflationary then simply not inflating would be deflationary on a relative scale. It is a near zero chance that countries don’t keep inflation strong.
- dale_glass 5y ago
  It is, by design. If you mean to say it's not deflationary because there's a limited amount of it that doesn't technically decrease, that doesn't help. First, Bitcoin does lose coins over time. When wallet keys are lost, or "dust" happens, that means that money can't ever be spent again. This is independent of the USD value. Second, the economy can grow. Eg, if the population grows, or a factory starts producing more goods, then there's now more stuff per unit of currency. That's still deflation.
knocte 5y ago
>Would you buy a car if waiting meant you could have it at half price? That's exactly what happens with computers and, last I heard, computers are still being purchased.

user_7832 5y ago

> Until the point that nobody wants to be the USD bag holder. Plenty of boomers still don’t think of saving USD as a terrible idea because they were trained their whole life to have faith in it. They are being robbed in plain sight, sadly. But younger generations won’t put up with it. I'm not sure whether you're opposed to the USD compared to other currencies, or cash in general opposed to stocks/bonds etc. For the former point, the US military's strength* ensures that the dollar is likely to stay the strongest of currencies even in a medium-term environment (say 50-100 years in my estimate), with only the Euro coming close. For the latter, I don't think that was what the earlier posters were talking about. * I'm not saying spending so much on the military is necessarily a good idea, neither am I a US citizen

AlexandrB 5y ago

I think this comment completely misunderstands what most people's savings are. 401Ks and the like are usually invested in a bunch of equities, bonds, and mutual funds. The value of these is commonly denominated in USD (if you live in the US), but they are not USD! Most people already don't "save" USD. They save equities and then trade them back into USD when it's time to retire. I don't see how BTC changes this other than adding another equity to the list of stuff you can invest in.

eric_cc 5y ago
Let’s assume BTC replaces fiat (USD). One way that it changes what you’ve described is that you wouldn’t be forced to gamble on equities or other assets to stay afloat. You’d have the option to simply hang on to your currency until another asset class enticed you enough to invest. It affords you some time to simply do nothing. Currently, you can’t afford to sit and wait and research assets. You need to stay out of fiat to stay afloat, constantly restructure your portfolio, etc. if you don’t do these things, you bleed buying power over time. With sound money, people could work and save without needing to constantly gamble just to maintain buying power.
- guelo 5y ago
  If Bitcoin were to always increase in value (deflationary) there is a strong disincentive to ever buy anything with it. This makes it useless as a currency which means it can't replace USD. Why buy something now when you can buy it for less in the future? You could buy the famous pizza for a tiny fraction of a Bitcoin today
  - eric_cc 5y ago
    As long as we have fiat, bitcoin WILL always increase in value. Because bitcoin supply is capped and fiat will continue to lose buying power year after year. At this stage, there is no incentive to hold fiat and huge incentive to hold as much bitcoin as possible. If bitcoin replaces fiat, bitcoin becomes the main representation of value. It no longer goes up against a trading pair of fiat. I speculate that its buying power would stabilize and become fairly static.

Traster 5y ago

The obvious point is that anyone who wants to pay their taxes is going to be a "USD bagholder". Boomers generally don't save in USD. They save in USD denominated assets (like bitcoin). Interest rates being lower than inflation does rebalance the economy from wealth to income, but I actually think that's something we should encourage right now.