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Interesting article, but I got cognitively tripped by the improper use of "deduct". In context, I believe the author wanted "deduce". The big takeaway I got is

Interesting article, but I got cognitively tripped by the improper use of "deduct". In context, I believe the author wanted "deduce". The big takeaway I got is that it was a mistake to let corporations set up electronic money. The US government let a few corporations set up and conduct electronic money transactions, so not only do we as a society have to pay for our money, we have to do this article's type of kremlinology to understand data we should have open and free access to.

tantalor 2y ago
Comes from same origin. Both are "deduction".
- snarg 2y ago
  So do "fact"/"faction" and "hostel"/"hospital". Mixing these up would be confusing and incorrect. Seems like a silly argument to make.
- bediger4000 2y ago
  "Deduct" means to subtract, or take away. "Deduce" means to logically follow evidence. Semantically, there's no overlap, whatever etymology might say. This is one of those problems where spell check is correct, but the word is used incorrectly.
  - tantalor 2y ago
    Wrong, "deduce" means to rule out possibilities, literally deduct them from the space of all possible universes. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
    - tossandthrow 2y ago
      Curios aside here: when pointing out a grammatical error of this sort, what school of English does it rely on? I mean, English has grown to a point where where the British English dictionary does not hold sole authority.
    - helmette 2y ago
      This is false. To deduce is to draw (ducere) a conclusion from (de) premisses.
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- samatman 2y ago
  'induct' and 'induce' are the same pairing, both are induction, and they mean different things. Saying someone was induced into the Army means something rather different from saying they were inducted.
calderwoodra 2y ago
> The big takeaway I got is that it was a mistake to let corporations set up electronic money What's stopping the US govt from building a solution and competing for market share? If they can do it cheaper and better, it would gain adoption, but I suspect cheaper would just mean "offset by taxes".
- Dalewyn 2y ago
  >What's stopping the US govt from building a solution and competing for market share? It's obnoxious enough to have credit cards (/especially/ Visa and Mastercard) breathing down my neck about what and where I spend my money, I definitely don't want to make that even worse by having the government feast upon that data instead.
  - noisyshart 2y ago
    [flagged]
  - bediger4000 2y ago
    The Feds already do check clearing, and they do it for free or nearly so. That's why your ISP probably gives you a discount on your bill if you (a) go paperless and (b) pay by ACH. As near as I can tell, check clearing is fast and accurate and very rarely screws up. It's also adequately funded. The divisions of government, local state and federal, that are funded, do well. The ones that aren't funded adequately are awful. This is consistent with companies like CenturyLink that don't fund branches properly: those branches are terrible.
- pydry 2y ago
  Corruption. Same reason the government doesnt just calculate your taxes.
kccqzy 2y ago
The United States government didn't even issue concurrency until the Federal Reserve. It's well within the general U.S. philosophy of letting markets do its thing. There is a very rich history of people wanting to avoid federal government control of money as much as possible.

tantalor 2y ago

Comes from same origin. Both are "deduction".

snarg 2y ago
So do "fact"/"faction" and "hostel"/"hospital". Mixing these up would be confusing and incorrect. Seems like a silly argument to make.
bediger4000 2y ago
"Deduct" means to subtract, or take away. "Deduce" means to logically follow evidence. Semantically, there's no overlap, whatever etymology might say. This is one of those problems where spell check is correct, but the word is used incorrectly.
- tantalor 2y ago
  Wrong, "deduce" means to rule out possibilities, literally deduct them from the space of all possible universes. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."
  - tossandthrow 2y ago
    Curios aside here: when pointing out a grammatical error of this sort, what school of English does it rely on? I mean, English has grown to a point where where the British English dictionary does not hold sole authority.
  - helmette 2y ago
    This is false. To deduce is to draw (ducere) a conclusion from (de) premisses.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
samatman 2y ago
'induct' and 'induce' are the same pairing, both are induction, and they mean different things. Saying someone was induced into the Army means something rather different from saying they were inducted.

calderwoodra 2y ago

> The big takeaway I got is that it was a mistake to let corporations set up electronic money What's stopping the US govt from building a solution and competing for market share? If they can do it cheaper and better, it would gain adoption, but I suspect cheaper would just mean "offset by taxes".

Dalewyn 2y ago
>What's stopping the US govt from building a solution and competing for market share? It's obnoxious enough to have credit cards (/especially/ Visa and Mastercard) breathing down my neck about what and where I spend my money, I definitely don't want to make that even worse by having the government feast upon that data instead.
- noisyshart 2y ago
  [flagged]
- bediger4000 2y ago
  The Feds already do check clearing, and they do it for free or nearly so. That's why your ISP probably gives you a discount on your bill if you (a) go paperless and (b) pay by ACH. As near as I can tell, check clearing is fast and accurate and very rarely screws up. It's also adequately funded. The divisions of government, local state and federal, that are funded, do well. The ones that aren't funded adequately are awful. This is consistent with companies like CenturyLink that don't fund branches properly: those branches are terrible.
pydry 2y ago
Corruption. Same reason the government doesnt just calculate your taxes.

kccqzy 2y ago

The United States government didn't even issue concurrency until the Federal Reserve. It's well within the general U.S. philosophy of letting markets do its thing. There is a very rich history of people wanting to avoid federal government control of money as much as possible.