Illuminating article, Gaz. Speaking as a “civilian”, may I suggest you introduce some kind of lexicon/idiot’s guide for those who are not steeped in finance? As more people read your output you will increasingly be engaging with people who don’t know what you mean by hard currency vs fiat money for eg. You don’t want to be written off as elitist, after all.
Scal!!!...is there anything I can do to stop you writing me off as elitist (;-)?! Of course, it's a fair point and fully accepted. You could say that the question you raise goes some way to prove the point. Money - the method with which the value our human activity is transferred across time, space and individuals is not taught to economic students, let alone the person in the street. The question of what is money - the very thing we are all programmed to strive for from primary school onwards to retirement - is not taught or even raised in our education system. I mean, take a step back and that is flatly staggering. For the record, hard money is money that is secured and limited to the value of an underlying asset. Fiat currency is what we now use as money because the laws of the land decree it be used as money. It is backed entirely "by the full faith and trust" in the government that issued it. G'luck with that!
Very interesting Gareth. How to design society, wealth creation and distribution is an old question. Some trace the roots of our current hierarchy of exploitation, and misery, back to the start of agriculture away from hunter gathering. A more contemporary analysis of the exploitation and manipulation of consumers is Naomi Klein in her seminal book "No Logo". However the solutions tend to end up advocating a form of socialism rather than libertarian capitalism. Most intellectuals tend to advocate their control of the masses, whether that be via control of currency or means of production. Can crypto release mankind from the age old Marxist analysis of the human condition or will it usher in a new age of centralised control? And can truly free citizens be trusted to act in a way that grows and nurtures society for the benefit of all rather than unravelling it towards chaos and disorder?
To you last question, frankly: who knows? I think we have the best chance ever given that we easily have the technology and capability of feeding and housing the world. You are always going to have the crazies and I suppose the question is how does society protect itself against the rotten apples. I am still optimistic that the vast, vast majority of people are good and, under a proper medium of exchange, would understand that the best way of creating value/benefit for themselves is by creating it for others. I think that concept is fundamentally what has been so egregiously distorted by our current USD-dominated fiat system. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages." If free market dynamics were truly allowed to run their course, we would all be furiously running around creating value for each other.
Illuminating article, Gaz. Speaking as a “civilian”, may I suggest you introduce some kind of lexicon/idiot’s guide for those who are not steeped in finance? As more people read your output you will increasingly be engaging with people who don’t know what you mean by hard currency vs fiat money for eg. You don’t want to be written off as elitist, after all.
Scal!!!...is there anything I can do to stop you writing me off as elitist (;-)?! Of course, it's a fair point and fully accepted. You could say that the question you raise goes some way to prove the point. Money - the method with which the value our human activity is transferred across time, space and individuals is not taught to economic students, let alone the person in the street. The question of what is money - the very thing we are all programmed to strive for from primary school onwards to retirement - is not taught or even raised in our education system. I mean, take a step back and that is flatly staggering. For the record, hard money is money that is secured and limited to the value of an underlying asset. Fiat currency is what we now use as money because the laws of the land decree it be used as money. It is backed entirely "by the full faith and trust" in the government that issued it. G'luck with that!
Very interesting Gareth. How to design society, wealth creation and distribution is an old question. Some trace the roots of our current hierarchy of exploitation, and misery, back to the start of agriculture away from hunter gathering. A more contemporary analysis of the exploitation and manipulation of consumers is Naomi Klein in her seminal book "No Logo". However the solutions tend to end up advocating a form of socialism rather than libertarian capitalism. Most intellectuals tend to advocate their control of the masses, whether that be via control of currency or means of production. Can crypto release mankind from the age old Marxist analysis of the human condition or will it usher in a new age of centralised control? And can truly free citizens be trusted to act in a way that grows and nurtures society for the benefit of all rather than unravelling it towards chaos and disorder?
To you last question, frankly: who knows? I think we have the best chance ever given that we easily have the technology and capability of feeding and housing the world. You are always going to have the crazies and I suppose the question is how does society protect itself against the rotten apples. I am still optimistic that the vast, vast majority of people are good and, under a proper medium of exchange, would understand that the best way of creating value/benefit for themselves is by creating it for others. I think that concept is fundamentally what has been so egregiously distorted by our current USD-dominated fiat system. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages." If free market dynamics were truly allowed to run their course, we would all be furiously running around creating value for each other.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfside_condominium_collapse
Intriguing example of rational self interest fail