@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
@cdarwin@c.im2025-09-21 02:23:50
The two top Democrats in Congress on Saturday demanded a meeting with President Trump ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline to fund the government,
warning him that Republicans would be blamed for a painful shutdown if he refused to negotiate with them.
“It is now your obligation to meet with us directly to reach an agreement to keep the government open and address the Republican health care crisis,”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York,…
@Techmeme@techhub.social2025-10-22 18:06:00
Apple removes controversial dating safety apps Tea and TeaOnHer from the App Store for failing to meet requirements around content moderation and user privacy (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/22/appl
@hex@kolektiva.social2025-11-21 10:08:16
It's Interesting today that the popularization of @…'s concept of "enshittification" is leading us to really think hard about how various methods of vendor lock-in enable corporations to abuse users. We see how first there's lock-in then quickly abuse follows, and recognize that the only way out of this trap is to build systems where users can leave at will.
But it's interesting that in this time of rising fascism no one is making the connection to fascism, as both increased lock in and enshittification of government. And no one is making the connection between the need to make systems optional to avoid enshittification, and libertarian socialist arguments against the systemic lock-in (and following abuse) of capitalism and the state.
@SafeStreetRebel@sfba.social2025-10-21 15:32:03
Hi spooky rebels! 🎃 It's time for the Great Hauntway! We're doing a Slow Ride to the Great Hauntway on Sun Oct 26. Meet 11:30, Roll at 12:00.
Brief Stop at the LED arch on car-free JFK. Details: https://www.safestreetrebel.com/blog/spooooooky-slow-rid…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-08-22 16:30:17
A federal judge on Thursday ordered that no more immigrant detainees be sent to a center in the Florida Everglades,
and that much of the facility be dismantled.
The ruling rebuked the state and federal governments for failing to consider potential environmental harms before building the facility, known as Alligator Alcatraz.
The judge gave both branches of the government 60 days to move out existing detainees
and begin to remove fencing, lighting, power generators and…
@Techmeme@techhub.social2025-10-22 19:31:06
Tinder plans to expand its facial verification feature to all new US users in the coming months, following its rollout in seven countries and in California (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/22/tinder…
@cdarwin@c.im2025-10-22 14:55:28
Trump Dismisses Another Inspector General,
Fueling Oversight Concerns
With the firing of Parisa Salehi,
the Export-Import Bank’s inspector general,
the president has sidelined around two dozen of the watchdogs who seek out fraud and mismanagement in federal agencies.
Even among Republicans on Capitol Hill, Ms. Salehi’s firing is prompting some backlash.
Senator Charles E. Grassley,
Republican of Iowa, raised concerns that the termination was illegal, …
@cdarwin@c.im2025-09-20 20:29:35
Trump is set to remove Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia,
for being faithful to facts, evidence, and guidelines governing good prosecutorial conduct, rather than fully corrupting his office to target Trump’s enemies.
That’s not a rhetorical cheap shot. It’s what Trump is actually doing, per ABC:
"President Donald Trump is expected to fire the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia after his office was unable to find incrimin…
