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Why does the paper dollar have buying power? What justifies its value? > The answer is nothing. Since there's no measurable intrinsic value, there's zero funda

Why does the paper dollar have buying power? What justifies its value? > The answer is nothing. Since there's no measurable intrinsic value, there's zero fundamental factor limiting the downside

adam_arthur 4y ago
The fact that it's the mandated unit of exchange for commerce in the US, and the government ensures it maintains a relatively stable value. It doesn't have intrinsic value, but it certainly has value by fiat/authority
- eric_cc 4y ago
  So USD’s value comes from authority, force and violence. We accept the USD because of the USA’s army, bombs, etc. We accept the fed and central banks and money printing. We accept the rigged point system. And how long is this sustainable before people have had enough? We now have an alternative. There is no bitcoin print button to bail out Washington at the expense of the regular people.
  - deeg 4y ago
    Even if I agreed with all your points (which I don't) why would the US government switch to BTC if that limited what the Fed could do? This is a debilitating flaw of BTC. I suppose if a vast majority of Americans demanded a switch to BTC it could be done but if that was a real possibility it would be much easier to demand laws to stop the Fed instead of switching to a new currency. But the government won't switch to BTC and the people will never demand it because a limited currency would hurt the economy by limiting growth.
    - eric_cc 4y ago
      > I suppose if a vast majority of Americans demanded a switch to BTC it could be done but if that was a real possibility it would be much easier to demand laws to stop the Fed instead of switching to a new currency. Stopping the fed would certainly be a great start. But we still need to switch currencies to one that cannot be created or controlled by the government. Whether bitcoin or something else, currency creation schedule should be damn near immutable, predictable, and the protocol should be ossified. A currency that is unpredictable and can be created whenever the government pleases is unacceptable.

Why does the paper dollar have buying power? What justifies its value? > The answer is nothing. Since there's no measurable intrinsic value, there's zero fundamental factor limiting the downside

adam_arthur 4y ago

The fact that it's the mandated unit of exchange for commerce in the US, and the government ensures it maintains a relatively stable value. It doesn't have intrinsic value, but it certainly has value by fiat/authority

eric_cc 4y ago
So USD’s value comes from authority, force and violence. We accept the USD because of the USA’s army, bombs, etc. We accept the fed and central banks and money printing. We accept the rigged point system. And how long is this sustainable before people have had enough? We now have an alternative. There is no bitcoin print button to bail out Washington at the expense of the regular people.
- deeg 4y ago
  Even if I agreed with all your points (which I don't) why would the US government switch to BTC if that limited what the Fed could do? This is a debilitating flaw of BTC. I suppose if a vast majority of Americans demanded a switch to BTC it could be done but if that was a real possibility it would be much easier to demand laws to stop the Fed instead of switching to a new currency. But the government won't switch to BTC and the people will never demand it because a limited currency would hurt the economy by limiting growth.
  - eric_cc 4y ago
    > I suppose if a vast majority of Americans demanded a switch to BTC it could be done but if that was a real possibility it would be much easier to demand laws to stop the Fed instead of switching to a new currency. Stopping the fed would certainly be a great start. But we still need to switch currencies to one that cannot be created or controlled by the government. Whether bitcoin or something else, currency creation schedule should be damn near immutable, predictable, and the protocol should be ossified. A currency that is unpredictable and can be created whenever the government pleases is unacceptable.