2/ The easiest way to understand what Bitcoin is, is to understand what it’s not - the current monetary system.
In most countries, money is rarely made by government. Instead, it’s largely made by banks lending money.
When banks issue a loan, poof! Money is created.
3/ When banks create loans, they create both assets and liabilities. Money is created, backed by a bank’s confidence in a borrower.
Surprised? A recent poll of British law makers found 84% had no idea commercial banks made most of the money in supply.
So, you’re not alone.
4/ You can see why governments shit bricks when banks are in trouble now, right? So when a financial crisis happens, what does government do?
Scrambles to help create more loans.
They lower interest rates, and create bigger loan programs.
5/ It doesn’t matter if it’s best for mom and pop go take out more debt. Go do it.
It doesn’t matter if public companies aren’t making more money. They need you to borrow to pay more for stocks.
This increased spending “ideally” drives higher prices and inflation.
6/ Which is great, because we need to deflate the real value of household debt. After all, if we inflate away the value of the debt by inflation, it’s real burden is lowered. Sweet!
Sounds like an insane system? Well, that’s because it is.
Now back to Bitcoin.
7/ During the Great Recession, the creator of Bitcoin basically said fuck this bailout system.
I’m creating a stateless currency, that isn’t driven by credit growth, or inflation. You put your money in, and trade the currency for market value.
8/ There’s no inflation. Assets are backed solely by trust in a trustless system.
You can’t fraudulently create Bitcoin.
The Central Bank of Bitcoin can’t just make more of it.
Fast forward to the next recession, and what’s happening? A fuck ton of credit is being made.
9/ As wealth accumulates for rich people so quickly, they have three choices:
- buy inflated stocks
- buy more real estate to keep empty
- buy bonds with negative returns after inflation
- exit the monetary system
A lot of people are opting for the last option.
10/ As wealth gets produced faster than the economy can create productivity, more and more rich people have been piling into Bitcoin.
That’s pretty much the multi billion dollar bet.
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Okay, so it's been a while since I did a supervillain school post, so I'll try to make this one good.
Let's talk about J. Paul Getty.
Looking at how the industrialist made his money, you'll understand why middle class people will never understand taxes.
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2/ For those that don't know, J Paul Getty was one of the wealthiest guys in history. He mostly made his money in oil, but he was truly a pioneer in what I call organizational income efficiency.
See, his company was so efficient, it barely ever payed taxes.
3/ The play worked like this. Most people *know* he owned oil fields, but he didn't officially. A trust did.
Besides the oil fields weren't profitable. They would spend all of their money at shipping companies.
Quick money concept I think more people *NEED* to understand.
The Lauderdale Paradox.
It's the simple concept of whether you should go on Spring Break or not.
Kidding! It's actually a 200 year old puzzle about public vs private wealth and value creation.
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2/ James Maitland, a.k.a. the 8th Earl of Lauderdale, was a Scottish dude that sat around discussing money and wealth.
History nerds know him as the guy that had a bloodless duel with Benedict Arnold, but really – he played a fundamental role in discussing public wealth.
3/ Maitland speculated there's an inverse correlation between public wealth, and private wealth.
He theorized public wealth is "all that man desires that is useful or delightful to him." I describe this as things like air, water, and @rickygervais.
Everyone: @AOC is selling a "tax the rich" sweatshirt for $58! That's way too expensive.
Me, a former mass market apparel designer: Made in America. Union printed. Sounds about right. That's what it costs to pay everyone a decent wage along the way.
Capitalism was designed for one tax – a property tax.
The average person thinks taxing high incomes makes more sense, and rich folks are happy you think that... because it doesn't.
Quick thread on why income taxes should be low, and property taxes should be high.
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2/ Adam Smith argued land is a natural monopoly. As people earn more money, the rents of the land scale.
No additional productivity was created on the land, but additional productivity created by the user was leached by the land's lord.
3/ If wages grow faster than the annual rate of property taxes, extra income is captured for non-productive purposes.
This creates incentive to hoard, and it also creates incentive to do literally nothing with the land. This is called land banking. Buy, hold, and pay low fees.