finally typing up my notes from @saifedean's Bitcoin Standard, and forgot about this gem when I was last into tweeting this stuff:
"The twentieth century’s binge on conspicuous consumption cannot be understood separately from the destruction of sound money and the outbreak ...
"The twentieth century’s binge on conspicuous consumption cannot be understood separately from the destruction of sound money and the outbreak ...
"... of Keynesian high-time-preference thinking, in vilifying savings and deifying consumption as the key to economic prosperity. The reduced incentive to save is mirrored with an increased incentive to spend, and with interest rates regularly manipulated downwards and banks ..."
"... able to issue more credit than ever, lending stopped being restricted to investment, but has moved onto consumption. Credit cards and consumer loans allow individuals to borrow for the sake of consumption without even the pretence of performing investment in the future."
"It is an ironic sign of the depth of modern-day economic ignorance fomented by Keynesian economics that capitalism – an economic system based on capital accumulation from saving – is blamed for unleashing conspicuous consumption – the exact opposite of capital accumulation."
"Capitalism is what happens when people drop their time preference, defer immediate gratification, and invest in the future. debt-fuelled mass consumption is as much a normal part of capitalism as asphyxiation is a normal part of respiration."
