21 ms·

You're describing post-1971 USD. It's getting difficult to tell which currency is the bigger scam at this point.

tartoran 4y ago
Except the latter is backed by an army and you can actually buy stuff with it. The former is so volatile that you don’t know if it’ll exist next year or not
- andirk 4y ago
  8% of every dollar in your pocket a year ago no longer exists.
  - shuckles 4y ago
    Not only is that adjacent to, but itself, a wrong statement, what does it even have to do with anything?
    - andirk 4y ago
      - shuckles 4y ago
        Inflation is a measure of purchasing power. I have all the dollars in my pocket and, depending on what I'm trying to buy like shipments of containers from Shanghai to Los Angeles, I could possibly buy more goods and services from last year. I think your comments are below the level of quality the HN community demands.
        andirk 4y ago
        For most consumers, 8% of the dollars in your pocket are gone. It means you have less money now than you did a year ago. > I have all the dollars in my pocket OK, you must be talking physical paper? > I could possibly buy more goods Most consumers are currently hurting from inflation.
      - tartoran 4y ago
        Inflation is horrible but what alternatives does crypto provide? It seems like 7-10 is still more acceptable than 90% or even 100% loss. I did buy some crypto and its value tanked so much it’s not even worth selling it anymore. Wish I just left the money in my banking account or done something with it… I did buy into the hype but fully admit I was an idiot for doing so. At least I learned that it’s best to stay as far away as possible from this space. What’s even more interesting is that Im adverse to gambling and all that…
  - djbusby 4y ago
    Military still there tho. Edit: happy Veterans Day (USA) to those who served.
    - wizeman 4y ago
      What does the military have to do with the USD? Many countries had a military and that didn't stop their currencies from completely collapsing.
      - Dylan16807 4y ago
        The power of a major government behind a currency is like the framing of a building. A building with a frame can collapse, but the odds are much worse if you don't have one.
        wizeman 4y ago
        > The power of a major government behind a currency is like the framing of a building. Only if the frame were able to make decisions that devalue or collapse the building without anyone being able to stop it (and quite a few "frames" have done that). As you can see, not a good analogy. > A building with a frame can collapse, but the odds are much worse if you don't have one. Well, actually the "frame" is the cause of the collapse. A "building" without the "frame" wouldn't actually collapse due to hyperinflation. Although I'm not sure what "being backed by the military" has anything to do with what you said. It's not like the military is going to do something when a currency is devalued by a government or when it collapses.
        Dylan16807 4y ago
        Uh, plenty of currencies not tied to governments have collapsed. And the military is part of keeping the country going and enforcing the currency as legal tender.
        wizeman 4y ago
  - pyinstallwoes 4y ago
    If you have 100,000 BTC and it goes down to 0, you still have 100,000 btc.
    - amluto 4y ago
      What’s the bitcoin ecosystem worth as a collectible? (Keep in mind that BTC at a low enough valuation is either unmineable and thus can’t be transacted or is mineable for very little money and thus subject to 51% attacks by anyone who is inspired to do so.)
      - pyinstallwoes 4y ago
        If you had 100,000 shells and the shells are worth 0, you still have 100,000 shells.
        sireat 4y ago
        Beanie babies, tulips, German marks from 1920s at least have some physical properties just like shells. If you have 100,000 cryptocurrency tokens worth 0, that presumably means there is no activity (no transactions, no validations, no mining). I suppose one could set up a few validators and attempt to restart the chain. The problem is that for many worthless coins that no one wants to mine, the difficulty is too high to restart. So that leaves forking the chain with lower difficulty requirements, which is just as pointless.
        amluto 4y ago
        Indeed. If you have 100k shells, you can at least sell them on Craigslist. With a fully collapsed Bitcoin valuation, the last “good” state of the chain is public knowledge, and you may know the private key associated with 100k BTC as indicated by the last good chain, but you can’t reliably do anything with that knowledge. So the chain itself could become a fascinating artifact, but the magic that made it possible to move Bitcoin around would be gone.
        4y ago
rhino369 4y ago
It's not a scam if everyone knows how the system works. The Federal Reserve doesn't pretend like the dollar is backed by anything. The Federal Reserve also manipulates supply to try to keep prices stable. They've messed that up the last two years, but rather just continuing to print money they are reducing the supply on purpose. It's nothing like Tether.
- roenxi 4y ago
  Everyone knows how Tether works. I bought some after the de-peg before the most recent one anyway because I needed something worth about $1 USD to buy Monero. And I'd still be happy to point out that USDT is unbacked and extremely risky (ie, going to collapse eventually by design). It is obvious that the people who own "wealth" in Tether will lose it sooner or later. If there are a large pool of people who believe Tether is 1:1 backed they: 1. Haven't read any news about Tether. 2. Haven't researched it at all. 3. Aren't a member of any social network like HN where Tether's flaws are trumpeted. 4. Are quite gullible. EDIT 5. Haven't looked at a price chart of Tether showing it's regular de-pegs. Such a person will fall for any scam, Crypto-related or otherwise. Regulated industries will still have people willing to take all their money since they aren't financially literate. > The Federal Reserve also manipulates supply to try to keep prices stable. Prices rise continuously, that isn't stable. The Fed tries to keep the rate that the US dollar loses value stable. The backers of Tether are making better guarantees than the Fed are - actual stability. They have less power to force people to go along with them though.

Except the latter is backed by an army and you can actually buy stuff with it. The former is so volatile that you don’t know if it’ll exist next year or not

andirk 4y ago
8% of every dollar in your pocket a year ago no longer exists.
- shuckles 4y ago
  Not only is that adjacent to, but itself, a wrong statement, what does it even have to do with anything?
  - andirk 4y ago
    - shuckles 4y ago
      Inflation is a measure of purchasing power. I have all the dollars in my pocket and, depending on what I'm trying to buy like shipments of containers from Shanghai to Los Angeles, I could possibly buy more goods and services from last year. I think your comments are below the level of quality the HN community demands.
      - andirk 4y ago
        For most consumers, 8% of the dollars in your pocket are gone. It means you have less money now than you did a year ago. > I have all the dollars in my pocket OK, you must be talking physical paper? > I could possibly buy more goods Most consumers are currently hurting from inflation.
    - tartoran 4y ago
      Inflation is horrible but what alternatives does crypto provide? It seems like 7-10 is still more acceptable than 90% or even 100% loss. I did buy some crypto and its value tanked so much it’s not even worth selling it anymore. Wish I just left the money in my banking account or done something with it… I did buy into the hype but fully admit I was an idiot for doing so. At least I learned that it’s best to stay as far away as possible from this space. What’s even more interesting is that Im adverse to gambling and all that…
- djbusby 4y ago
  Military still there tho. Edit: happy Veterans Day (USA) to those who served.
  - wizeman 4y ago
    What does the military have to do with the USD? Many countries had a military and that didn't stop their currencies from completely collapsing.
    - Dylan16807 4y ago
      The power of a major government behind a currency is like the framing of a building. A building with a frame can collapse, but the odds are much worse if you don't have one.
      - wizeman 4y ago
        > The power of a major government behind a currency is like the framing of a building. Only if the frame were able to make decisions that devalue or collapse the building without anyone being able to stop it (and quite a few "frames" have done that). As you can see, not a good analogy. > A building with a frame can collapse, but the odds are much worse if you don't have one. Well, actually the "frame" is the cause of the collapse. A "building" without the "frame" wouldn't actually collapse due to hyperinflation. Although I'm not sure what "being backed by the military" has anything to do with what you said. It's not like the military is going to do something when a currency is devalued by a government or when it collapses.
        Dylan16807 4y ago
        Uh, plenty of currencies not tied to governments have collapsed. And the military is part of keeping the country going and enforcing the currency as legal tender.
        wizeman 4y ago
- pyinstallwoes 4y ago
  If you have 100,000 BTC and it goes down to 0, you still have 100,000 btc.
  - amluto 4y ago
    What’s the bitcoin ecosystem worth as a collectible? (Keep in mind that BTC at a low enough valuation is either unmineable and thus can’t be transacted or is mineable for very little money and thus subject to 51% attacks by anyone who is inspired to do so.)
    - pyinstallwoes 4y ago
      If you had 100,000 shells and the shells are worth 0, you still have 100,000 shells.
      - sireat 4y ago
        Beanie babies, tulips, German marks from 1920s at least have some physical properties just like shells. If you have 100,000 cryptocurrency tokens worth 0, that presumably means there is no activity (no transactions, no validations, no mining). I suppose one could set up a few validators and attempt to restart the chain. The problem is that for many worthless coins that no one wants to mine, the difficulty is too high to restart. So that leaves forking the chain with lower difficulty requirements, which is just as pointless.
        amluto 4y ago
        Indeed. If you have 100k shells, you can at least sell them on Craigslist. With a fully collapsed Bitcoin valuation, the last “good” state of the chain is public knowledge, and you may know the private key associated with 100k BTC as indicated by the last good chain, but you can’t reliably do anything with that knowledge. So the chain itself could become a fascinating artifact, but the magic that made it possible to move Bitcoin around would be gone.
        4y ago

rhino369 4y ago

It's not a scam if everyone knows how the system works. The Federal Reserve doesn't pretend like the dollar is backed by anything. The Federal Reserve also manipulates supply to try to keep prices stable. They've messed that up the last two years, but rather just continuing to print money they are reducing the supply on purpose. It's nothing like Tether.

roenxi 4y ago
Everyone knows how Tether works. I bought some after the de-peg before the most recent one anyway because I needed something worth about $1 USD to buy Monero. And I'd still be happy to point out that USDT is unbacked and extremely risky (ie, going to collapse eventually by design). It is obvious that the people who own "wealth" in Tether will lose it sooner or later. If there are a large pool of people who believe Tether is 1:1 backed they: 1. Haven't read any news about Tether. 2. Haven't researched it at all. 3. Aren't a member of any social network like HN where Tether's flaws are trumpeted. 4. Are quite gullible. EDIT 5. Haven't looked at a price chart of Tether showing it's regular de-pegs. Such a person will fall for any scam, Crypto-related or otherwise. Regulated industries will still have people willing to take all their money since they aren't financially literate. > The Federal Reserve also manipulates supply to try to keep prices stable. Prices rise continuously, that isn't stable. The Fed tries to keep the rate that the US dollar loses value stable. The backers of Tether are making better guarantees than the Fed are - actual stability. They have less power to force people to go along with them though.