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If you had all the dollars and people still had to pay their taxes in dollars. You would be able to get a LOT of stuff for those dollars because everyone would

by shkkmo 4y ago

If you had all the dollars and people still had to pay their taxes in dollars. You would be able to get a LOT of stuff for those dollars because everyone would need them. The actual concern with this argument is that "You can only pay your taxes in US dollars" is a backing that is contingent on the policy of the US Government. The strength of that backing depends on your view about the likelihood that such a policy will stay in place. (Edit: granted, if all USD were owned by a single entity, the likelihood that such a policy would be revoked is much, much higher.)

est31 4y ago
It does depend on the policy, yes, but note that government backed (local) monopolies exist in other areas too. Like for example with hospitals, or with phone network operators.
- shkkmo 4y ago
  I'm not sure how this comment relates to the topic as we aren't discussing any sort of monopoly.
  - est31 4y ago
    If you have all the dollars then you have a monopoly on them. If the government forces people to pay their taxes in dollars you have a government supported monopoly. It stands and falls with the government's support for it, the connected regulations, etc.
WorldMaker 4y ago
> (Edit: granted, if all USD were owned by a single entity, the likelihood that such a policy would be revoked is much, much higher.) If all of USD were owned by a single entity, the US Government just prints more. They will always have that power. That may cause inflation effects that they would be concerned about in the long term, but they have an immediate reaction lever to increase the monetary supply in such a (weird) hypothetical. (Though the correspondence between monetary supply and long-term inflation has always been much more theoretical "cause-and-effect" rather than showing practical, real world correlation much less "cause-and-effect". Especially this side of the Gold Standard the practical relationship between monetary supply and inflation is incredibly complex, and while you will find many people still presume an inflationary relationship the practical effects have been much weirder. [There are times in recent US history where USD monetary supply was at all time highs and inflation at all time lows.]) (Unless you hypothesizing an even weirder hypothetical where the monetary supply is increased by the US Government just handing the dollars to the single USD dollar holder and hoping that provides incentive to "trickle down" dollars back to everyone, but there's very little anyone can do with the onion of dumb in that weird hypothetical.)

by shkkmo 4y ago

est31 4y ago

It does depend on the policy, yes, but note that government backed (local) monopolies exist in other areas too. Like for example with hospitals, or with phone network operators.

shkkmo 4y ago
I'm not sure how this comment relates to the topic as we aren't discussing any sort of monopoly.
- est31 4y ago
  If you have all the dollars then you have a monopoly on them. If the government forces people to pay their taxes in dollars you have a government supported monopoly. It stands and falls with the government's support for it, the connected regulations, etc.

WorldMaker 4y ago

> (Edit: granted, if all USD were owned by a single entity, the likelihood that such a policy would be revoked is much, much higher.) If all of USD were owned by a single entity, the US Government just prints more. They will always have that power. That may cause inflation effects that they would be concerned about in the long term, but they have an immediate reaction lever to increase the monetary supply in such a (weird) hypothetical. (Though the correspondence between monetary supply and long-term inflation has always been much more theoretical "cause-and-effect" rather than showing practical, real world correlation much less "cause-and-effect". Especially this side of the Gold Standard the practical relationship between monetary supply and inflation is incredibly complex, and while you will find many people still presume an inflationary relationship the practical effects have been much weirder. [There are times in recent US history where USD monetary supply was at all time highs and inflation at all time lows.]) (Unless you hypothesizing an even weirder hypothetical where the monetary supply is increased by the US Government just handing the dollars to the single USD dollar holder and hoping that provides incentive to "trickle down" dollars back to everyone, but there's very little anyone can do with the onion of dumb in that weird hypothetical.)