4 ms·
Fiat currencies are like Unicorns and Santa Claus, they stop existing when people grow up and stop believing in them. And there is no need for a "replacement" (
by kesor 1y ago
Fiat currencies are like Unicorns and Santa Claus, they stop existing when people grow up and stop believing in them. And there is no need for a "replacement" (i.e. the nothing is better argument) or a need for "enforcement" (i.e. the military argument) or a need for a "system" (i.e. the rule-based-order & courts argument). Fiat currencies simply die off due to lack of trust and belief, and it often happens by way of Gresham's Law.
- crooked-v 1y agoFiat currencies are the "grown up" result of realizing that everything else in modern society depends on people believing in the social contract, and that doing the same with currency is both more stable and more predictable than having an economy that depends on the amounts currently available of arbitrarily chosen rare metals.
- robocat 1y agoI would be interested to see if we could create an hours-worked currency. Every person is given a similar amount of lifetime (only a few countries are exceptions). Time can't inflate or deflate, is understood by all and easily measured, and it can't be stored. Taking it from others or trading it between people is difficult (we use money as a proxy instead). Some obvious problems: quality of time, the value of different people's time is variable, retirement.
- mritterhoff 1y agoSounds like "time banking", which has myriad flaws. One of them is that your time is cheap when you're young and unskilled, and grows valuable as you grow old and become skilled (and have less time left). Each <unit of time> isn't equal for the same person, much less between them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-based_currency https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-based_currency
- robocat 1y agoYeah, we have 3 Time Bank organisations in my city (I'm not sure how they manage their economy internally): https://www.cinch.org.nz/categories/421/441/entries https://www.cinch.org.nz/categories/421/441/entries In New Zealand you can't put your professional work into the time bank (unless everyone wants to declare it as taxable). I was probably thinking more along the lines of: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Freedom_Day
- AnimalMuppet 1y agoFor Gresham's Law, there has to be an alternative, which becomes a replacement.
- carlosjobim 1y agoAs for the almighty dollar, you better believe in it even if you don't – or your country is getting bombed.
- SubiculumCode 1y agoAs long as I have to pay my taxes in dollars, I will have need of dollars. That fact gives it an inherent minimum value.