@pre@boing.world2025-11-22 10:39:50
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.
--
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
@Mediagazer@mstdn.social2026-01-21 21:38:17
A judge blocks US government officials from examining devices seized from reporter Hannah Natanson's home until the judge can review and rule on access issues (Perry Stein/Washington Post)
@pre@boing.world2025-11-23 13:57:27
The conference also has a cinema room, showing bitcoin based films. Not mine, but I'm here for "finding home" by avi burra. Who did q&a after.
A short Travelog about a visit a cypherpunk in Prague for BTC Prague. Which was a much bigger bitcoin conference.
Lots of shots of a beautiful European city, and brief interviews with the people there. Many at restaurants where meals are paid for with bitcoin.
I guess they have a circular economy there of some sort.
Conclusion seems to be that fixing the money is important but building community is even more importanter.
#bitfest #film #bitcoin
@mapto@qoto.org2025-12-19 05:45:33
The consequences of the 996 working hour system:
"On the Chinese internet, the country’s current predicament – slowing economic growth, a falling birthrate, a meagre social safety net, increasing isolation on the world stage – is often expressed through buzzwords. There is tangping, or “lying flat”, a term used to describe the young generation of Chinese who are choosing to chill out rather than hustle in China’s high-pressure economy. There is runxue, or “run philosophy”, which re…
@benb@osintua.eu2026-01-19 14:57:14
Russia's $4B air defense in flames! Davos convenes World Economic Forum: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/19/russias-b-air-defense-in.html
@servelan@newsie.social2025-12-17 04:22:34
"The latest data showed that the economy created 64,000 net new jobs in November following a decline of 105,000 in October. The Journal's editors noted in a new editorial that the figure "sounds worse than it is because the net jobs decline was all in government jobs.""
'Some renaissance': WSJ editorial board roasts Trump's latest economic report - Raw Story
https://www.rawstory.com/wall-street-journal-2674405810/
@cdarwin@c.im2025-12-16 18:43:55
Federal data belatedly released Tuesday shows that the
US unemployment rate
rose to the highest level in four years last month
as Donald Trump’s administration continues its assault on the government’s workforce
and American corporations lay off workers at a level not seen in decades.
The unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in November,
up from 4.4% in September,
according to the Labor Department report, whose release was delayed due to the recent governme…
@Techmeme@techhub.social2025-12-28 07:01:04
Sources: Bengaluru-based quick grocery delivery startup Zepto confidentially files for a ~$1.3B India IPO; Zepto raised $450M at a $7B valuation in October 2025 (Pranav Mukul/The Economic Times)
https://economi…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-11-06 19:40:40
IRS Direct File,
the electronic system for filing tax returns for free,
will not be offered next year,
the Trump administration has confirmed.
An email sent Monday from IRS official Cynthia Noe to state comptrollers that participate in the Direct File program said that
“IRS Direct File will not be available in Filing Season 2026. No launch date has been set for the future.”
The program developed during Joe Biden’s presidency
was credited by users with…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-10-27 01:30:04
We distinguish "personal unfairness",
-- the view that one’s own economic situation is unfair,
from "social unfairness",
-- the view that the economic situation of others in society is unfair.
Uncertainties associated with the transition to a globalized knowledge economy heighten people’s feelings of personal unfairness
Feelings of personal unfairness increase support for the "populist right"
and feelings about social unfairn…
