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Fiat currency is an excellent mechanism for stealing wealth from a population without them realising (well without them realising who took it at least). Each ti
by npoc 3y ago
Fiat currency is an excellent mechanism for stealing wealth from a population without them realising (well without them realising who took it at least). Each time they create credit by increasing the money supply with new money, they don't create value, they simply dilute the value of the money supply across more monetary units. The value in the newly printed "credit" comes from the existing money. That's why prices go up endlessly. It's not the value of things we buy increasing, but the value in our money leaking away into the money they are creating. The reality is that value of most consumables (food, electronics, cars, toothbrushes etc) is going down in value year on year by ~5% (due to efficiencies in production, automation etc) but by increasing the money supply by ~7% each year (doubling it per decade!), we actually see prices increase by ~2% average (CPI). They are essentially creaming off all the efficiency gains made by the people over the decades and then taking some more just because...they can.
Meanwhile people are accusing the shops of being greedy, and employers accuse employees of being greedy for wanting a pay rise that doesn't even cover half of the pay cut they are effectively getting each year.
It also distorts other fundamental signals like GDP. Devaluing the unit of account by printing money makes the GDP figures go up because you're measuring it with something that's going down in value. Looking at the USA and accounting for money supply increase, it has had falling GDP for decades. You think your savings are going up, but they are going down etc. etc.
Money is proof of work, or it should be. To create it should take as much work as it's worth (this is true for both gold and bitcoin). In reality, the fiat we currently use is proof of work for the population, while the bankers have a free money spigot. They can pour trillions of money out of nowhere with a few keystrokes and then charge interest on it for decades to come, as if it was their own money.. It gives them undeserved, unlimited power. And what's the best way for them to get more free money? Generate more loans/credit. And what's the most effective way to do that? Trigger wars and, if possible, fund both sides.