Oh, but governments are so much more wise and responsible than mere individuals. And they print money for our benefit, not for their own benefit. I know this to be true, it says it right here in my state-issued economics textbook.
The simple argument against this is that the issue isn't the money printing, it's the rate at which it happens. Everyone having a money printer would make the currency worthless overnight. That's true, but that's not equivalent to having a central money printer, so it's not particularly meaningful that the extreme is extremely bad.
Part of the trouble of trying to convince people about this is that ultimately the problem with money printing is built on the moral argument that forcible taking is wrong. The logical arguments about "what happens if I have a money printer" are built on that and eventually most fall back to it when pressed. If you can't convince someone that printing money is wrong because it's effectively stealing, you'll ultimately get nowhere. This is surprisingly difficult to do, because most people take theft from government as nothing more that a natural justifiable thing.
For this reason, I've had more success trying to convince people that inflation is a hidden and extremely regressive tax than something inherently immoral. I'm effectively saying the same thing, but it's put in words they understand. Or at least close to it. Confusion over what "inflation" is is a whole other beast to slay.
And today's 25,000+ different crypto currencies are exactly that...someone printing their own money. The owners of these crypto's are printing their own money, and conning people into thinking it is worth something.
But none of them are worth anything. Not even Bitcoin, or Ethereum, or Solona, or XRP. The other 25,000 cryptos are worth less than zero. But none have anything of value backing them...not gold, not silver, not oil, not even copper.
And the poor lowly fiat currency that every countries government prints...paper - dollars, francs, or rubbies or yuan...they at least have the value of the citizens and corporate taxes backing them. So in some ways the lowly fiat currencies have the most backing...odd, eh?
So why was or is US confederate money banned and illegal, but crypto money is allowed?
And why would any thinking person think that "mining" in crypto is anything but a scam? After all, when anyone buys a computer, it does not naturally come with crypto in it just waiting to be "mined". Its a fools game...there is no mining, its all arbitrary and made up by the person who made their own crypto currency up. Why is it not acceptable to print your own money, as this article asks? Yet it is acceptable to print your own currency if you call it crypto, even though it has no intrinsic value or no real value backing it? The emperor wears no clothes.
And what will happen when this fools game is over, and people start running for the exit and trying to get their money back? That is the real question.
In Hitler's German economy, money was created when people were paid for their labor....based on a unit of production.
In the US economy money is created when debt is issued.....when a loan is created....based on a unit of debt.
Which one of those do you think works best for the people and which one works best for the banksters? If you don't know, sit tight. You are about to find out.
anybody can print their own money. It’s not even against the law!
But . . . But . . . They can’t make you use their money. That’s why it says on legal tender “for all debts public and private.”
If you, Mr. Egbert, can print your own money AND other people voluntarily use it, well? You sir are an artist.
Now, is an artist doing anything useful socially? Hmm. Some people would say no. In fact, Plato wrote a book about NO. The poets were banned from his Republic. OK, what if you’re Michaelangelo? Or DaVinci? Or Raphael? Or Titian? Fukk it. They were artists, yes, but they were decorators by trade. They decorated Churches. If you want to call them an artist, whatever.
I read about a guy once — this is when I was living in New York and read the papers and magazines — who made currency as an art form. Then he’d go into a store, and see if he could buy things with the money he made — literally he “made” it. I think it was in New Yawk Magazine. A profile.
it worked!
Not everybody can do that. I doubt I could. I’m too lazy. So for me . . . Not surprisingly . . . It’s precious metals or getting lucky in stocks.
Is that any better than printing my own money? Not even making it like an artist. Just somehow printing it as an act of social deviance.
If you’re a philosopher you might say “Not really.” Hahahahah
It’s complicated. You think you understand something and then one day you’re walking down a street and an errant and uncomfortable thought enters your head as if from another reality. And you think “Shit”. That’s the beginning of wisdom. Dont’ worry about it. Just be grateful.
Pretty simple, you don't have the decrepit ghoulish skeletal structure to weasle your fingers over the delicate print button at the fed. Your hard working, strong and moral hands will likely mash the buttons and send us into a much needed recession.
Does this argument mean that any money supply growth should be limited to GDP expansion (the growth of goods and services)? Would seem if that were the case the debasement of currency would be greatly constrained since there would be wealth created in that GDP growth to justify the expanded monetary supply. What am I missing?
Mining for digital currency or precious metals is essentially "printing your own money". The major difference of course, is that there is a finite, or near finite limit to the total amount available. This was never true of the US dollar. It was however at least limited by the corresponding volume of gold and silver, which, even with the incremental increases in supply, reinforced it's value. That changed when the US ditched the "gold standard" and the dollar became an IOU note backed only by faith in the Federal government. Since a finite supply (as digital currency uses) or even a limited supply of actual value (precious metal backed currency) is no longer applicable to the dollar, and given the fact that the Federal government has continuously increased the number of dollars printed since the decoupling from gold, faith is all we're left with. Since mining, for gold, silver, BTC, etc.) is not a readily available option for most, a reckoning is on the way. The citizenry's apathy toward the economic cliff we have allowed is, at the very least, concerning.
The “supply” of gold and silver in possession of the federal government DETERMINED the value of the currency and definitively limited the amount that could be created. That’s what a true “gold standard” is.
I have pictures of the camper that my mom and dad called home when they were married. They called it a trailer. Their next one was 28 feet long. They never complained about affordability.
Oh, but governments are so much more wise and responsible than mere individuals. And they print money for our benefit, not for their own benefit. I know this to be true, it says it right here in my state-issued economics textbook.
The fedgov prints Fiat Debt - not “money”
Brilliant. Wonderfully simple essay showing the weakness of fiat paper.
“fiat debt”
Because you don't have your own military with which to kill those that won't accept it?
Owning silver and gold right now is pretty close to having a printer for shitty dollars.
The simple argument against this is that the issue isn't the money printing, it's the rate at which it happens. Everyone having a money printer would make the currency worthless overnight. That's true, but that's not equivalent to having a central money printer, so it's not particularly meaningful that the extreme is extremely bad.
Part of the trouble of trying to convince people about this is that ultimately the problem with money printing is built on the moral argument that forcible taking is wrong. The logical arguments about "what happens if I have a money printer" are built on that and eventually most fall back to it when pressed. If you can't convince someone that printing money is wrong because it's effectively stealing, you'll ultimately get nowhere. This is surprisingly difficult to do, because most people take theft from government as nothing more that a natural justifiable thing.
For this reason, I've had more success trying to convince people that inflation is a hidden and extremely regressive tax than something inherently immoral. I'm effectively saying the same thing, but it's put in words they understand. Or at least close to it. Confusion over what "inflation" is is a whole other beast to slay.
fiat debt printing
What causes inflation? Talk to them about that. Tell them what "inflation" was prior to 1913.
INTEREST in a debt based monetary system REQUIRES inflation.....or the system collapses.
It is INTEREST......USURY........the Jew banking system......that drives inflation. Why did European nations ban interest/usury for centuries?
The Fed can print and the government can borrow and spend TRILLIONS at the speed of "digital" today.
And today's 25,000+ different crypto currencies are exactly that...someone printing their own money. The owners of these crypto's are printing their own money, and conning people into thinking it is worth something.
But none of them are worth anything. Not even Bitcoin, or Ethereum, or Solona, or XRP. The other 25,000 cryptos are worth less than zero. But none have anything of value backing them...not gold, not silver, not oil, not even copper.
And the poor lowly fiat currency that every countries government prints...paper - dollars, francs, or rubbies or yuan...they at least have the value of the citizens and corporate taxes backing them. So in some ways the lowly fiat currencies have the most backing...odd, eh?
So why was or is US confederate money banned and illegal, but crypto money is allowed?
And why would any thinking person think that "mining" in crypto is anything but a scam? After all, when anyone buys a computer, it does not naturally come with crypto in it just waiting to be "mined". Its a fools game...there is no mining, its all arbitrary and made up by the person who made their own crypto currency up. Why is it not acceptable to print your own money, as this article asks? Yet it is acceptable to print your own currency if you call it crypto, even though it has no intrinsic value or no real value backing it? The emperor wears no clothes.
And what will happen when this fools game is over, and people start running for the exit and trying to get their money back? That is the real question.
My money printer appears to be SLV at the moment. Hi-Ho silver, AWAY!
In Hitler's German economy, money was created when people were paid for their labor....based on a unit of production.
In the US economy money is created when debt is issued.....when a loan is created....based on a unit of debt.
Which one of those do you think works best for the people and which one works best for the banksters? If you don't know, sit tight. You are about to find out.
No “money” (silver and gold) is created - it’s Fiat Debt.
It’s semantics……the only “money” these sheeple know.
It’s not semantics - it’s the difference between honesty and fraud.
You and I may know this, but you cannot convince the sheeple.
“Way easier to con a man than to convince him he has been conned.”
True - and those who are going to survive this Fourth Turning will figure it out before SHTF Day.
anybody can print their own money. It’s not even against the law!
But . . . But . . . They can’t make you use their money. That’s why it says on legal tender “for all debts public and private.”
If you, Mr. Egbert, can print your own money AND other people voluntarily use it, well? You sir are an artist.
Now, is an artist doing anything useful socially? Hmm. Some people would say no. In fact, Plato wrote a book about NO. The poets were banned from his Republic. OK, what if you’re Michaelangelo? Or DaVinci? Or Raphael? Or Titian? Fukk it. They were artists, yes, but they were decorators by trade. They decorated Churches. If you want to call them an artist, whatever.
I read about a guy once — this is when I was living in New York and read the papers and magazines — who made currency as an art form. Then he’d go into a store, and see if he could buy things with the money he made — literally he “made” it. I think it was in New Yawk Magazine. A profile.
it worked!
Not everybody can do that. I doubt I could. I’m too lazy. So for me . . . Not surprisingly . . . It’s precious metals or getting lucky in stocks.
Is that any better than printing my own money? Not even making it like an artist. Just somehow printing it as an act of social deviance.
If you’re a philosopher you might say “Not really.” Hahahahah
It’s complicated. You think you understand something and then one day you’re walking down a street and an errant and uncomfortable thought enters your head as if from another reality. And you think “Shit”. That’s the beginning of wisdom. Dont’ worry about it. Just be grateful.
I remember that artist that painted high denomination bills. I read somewhere that they are worth quite a bit these days as "arte"
Pretty simple, you don't have the decrepit ghoulish skeletal structure to weasle your fingers over the delicate print button at the fed. Your hard working, strong and moral hands will likely mash the buttons and send us into a much needed recession.
Even the Dude knew it. "Uh, I’m just gonna go find a cash machine."
Does this argument mean that any money supply growth should be limited to GDP expansion (the growth of goods and services)? Would seem if that were the case the debasement of currency would be greatly constrained since there would be wealth created in that GDP growth to justify the expanded monetary supply. What am I missing?
It’s growth of Fiat Debt, not “money” (gold and silver)
Mining for digital currency or precious metals is essentially "printing your own money". The major difference of course, is that there is a finite, or near finite limit to the total amount available. This was never true of the US dollar. It was however at least limited by the corresponding volume of gold and silver, which, even with the incremental increases in supply, reinforced it's value. That changed when the US ditched the "gold standard" and the dollar became an IOU note backed only by faith in the Federal government. Since a finite supply (as digital currency uses) or even a limited supply of actual value (precious metal backed currency) is no longer applicable to the dollar, and given the fact that the Federal government has continuously increased the number of dollars printed since the decoupling from gold, faith is all we're left with. Since mining, for gold, silver, BTC, etc.) is not a readily available option for most, a reckoning is on the way. The citizenry's apathy toward the economic cliff we have allowed is, at the very least, concerning.
The “supply” of gold and silver in possession of the federal government DETERMINED the value of the currency and definitively limited the amount that could be created. That’s what a true “gold standard” is.
I have pictures of the camper that my mom and dad called home when they were married. They called it a trailer. Their next one was 28 feet long. They never complained about affordability.
Thanks Captain Obvious, next article, just speculate on having your own army.
Think cheap drones.............
Can't have your own army; that's one of the elements of being a State in the International System. Monopoly on Violence.
Yes, I know, my comment was intended as sarcasm. Sorry that wasn’t clear enough for you.
no harm no foul. It's so rare I get to use my Masters in International Relations. Worthless at Trivia night...