Despite much opinion to the contrary, the government money we use is crappy.
I'm at bitfest in Manchester to find out if Bitcoin could be a better money.
It could hardly be worse.
The mood is still good, people are joking about recent devaluation rather than crying. Those who aren't all in are trying to buy more at the discount.
After an introduction by Mad Bitcoins, Joe Bryan explains the problem with government money.
He imagines an island on which two types of money are tried, with a dividing wall between them.
When economic problems hit, government can just print more money on the fiat side. Everyone now using money which is worth less. Distorting prices, inflating asset prices, making the rich (who hold assets) richer and the poor (who have to pay inflated prices) poorer. Driving wealth inequality.
On the hard money side, government must tax properly. Take in more from the rich rather than inflating to take it from the poor. Reducing wealth inequality.
On the government money side, the wealthy monitize houses, stocks, resources. Saving in money is impossible, its inflated away. So they save in assets and hording resources. Capital is misallocated. The youth can't afford houses. Poverty traps are caused. The only way out is printing more for benefits. Making it all worse. More economic crises, more printing. More government debt.
Eventually, the wall is broken. Government money people can save in the hard money instead. It reduces the value of government money further. More printing. More inflation.
Eventually, war. Funded by printed money.
The dollar is the best of a bad bunch all other government money is falling in value even faster.
I wonder, is bitcoin really this better money though? It's limited, hard, and can't be printed without energy investment.
I'm still unsure that fixing money fixes the world.
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Note: "crypto" is mostly more like government money than bitcoin. It can be printed indefinitely by it's makers, does not cost it's makers to print. Crypto is usually just a scam people to get more bitcoin. Bitcoin is not crypto.
#bitfest #bitcoin
Another film, another unattributed use of #OpenStreetMap. This is the fourth movie I’ve seen this year commit this sin and the latest culprit is this Netflix Christmas romcom titled Champagne Problems.
Their travesty is now immortalized on the OSM Wiki: https…
For some reason, the #FamilyHousingPlan in the new RTO-C zoning, doesn't appear to permit the sort of live work spaces discussed here.
https://www.sfgate.com/realest…
For some reason, the #FamilyHousingPlan in the new RTO-C zoning, doesn't appear to permit the sort of live work spaces discussed here.
https://www.sfgate.com/realest…
Quick Hits: Pete Carroll addresses offensive line, confidence in Geno Smith and more following primetime loss to Dallas Cowboys https://www.raiders.com/news/quick-hits-pete-carroll-addresses-…
Quick Hits: Pete Carroll addresses offensive line, confidence in Geno Smith and more following primetime loss to Dallas Cowboys https://www.raiders.com/news/quick-hits-pete-carroll-addresses-…
I haven’t tuned into CBS since its morning news promoted that interview (and Weiss) last week. This latest announcement validates my decision.
“CBS News launches town hall series featuring JD Vance following Bari Weiss’ ratings flop”
https://www.indep…
A UK family and a US family sue Meta for the alleged wrongful deaths of their teenage sons, who died by suicide after falling victim to sextortion on Instagram (Libby Brooks/The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/d
Quick Hits: Pete Carroll addresses offensive line, confidence in Geno Smith and more following primetime loss to Dallas Cowboys https://www.raiders.com/news/quick-hits-pete-carroll-addresses-…
„It’s a path puzzle. You draw a path that enters the grid at the top and exits at the bottom. Along the way, there are 50 sections, each following a different ruleset. Consecutive sections overlap by a few rows, creating short hybrid sections in between.”
This is amazing! The printable PDF-version is 17 pages! 🤯
https://