Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Sunday, January 23, 2022

A Fool And His Nonexistent Money...

 So cryptocurrency took a dive, apparently because there is ample room for a market correction and gambling your savings on patent bullshit turns out to only be fun when the rubes insure that the price continues to rise. 

I've tried to figure out what the actual fuck is up with cryptocurrencies. As near as I can tell, there are people who have created money without the backing of a government. The technological mumbo-jumbo is beside the point. I don't care how "secure" my make believe money is. I suppose the idea is a the sort reductio ad absurdum of fiat currency. A lot of those lunatic Ron Paul gold standard nutjobs gave way to people who said, "Oh, money doesn't have to be based on anything? Hold my beer!"

Of course, money IS based on something. The full faith and credit of a nation's government, modified by the strength of that country's economy establishes the worth of its currency. 

This all feels like a toxic combo of techbro and libertarian narcissism. I wouldn't care, but I have a sinking suspicion that crypto will cause another 2008 style financial crisis. I'm not sure we can weather another storm quite so soon.

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