Thread by @davetroy

1/🧵 💵 The US dollar is being held hostage. If we fail to raise (or eliminate) the debt ceiling, the dollar will be crushed. Only psychopaths would let this happen; but similar hostage situations have occurred before.

2/In 1892-1896, funds were desperately needed to relieve the plight of farmers affected by drought in the American west. Gold-fetishists refused to endorse “bimetallism,” but which would increase money supply by adding silver as currency.

investopedia.com/terms/b/bimeta…

3/In 1933, Roosevelt needed funds to pay for the New Deal, but the US lacked sufficient gold to back proposed programs. So he decoupled the dollar from gold and banned hoarding it, by executive order. The New Deal proceeded, shortening the depression.

4/In 1980, rich speculators unhappy with inflation began hoarding land and silver as a hedge against the dollar (it was illegal to buy gold). The Hunt Brothers tried and failed to corner the silver market; margin purchase requirements were raised, crashing the silver market.

5/Today, the spawn of Milton Friedman are back at it with Bitcoin, i.e. digital gold. They hope this time no one notices their attack. The goldbugs are now flirting with crashing the dollar in a self-fulfilling prophecy, to bolster “digital gold” and so-called “honest money.”

6/At root what this really is about is people who can’t stand the idea of bankers. And rich people who want to get richer by ensuring no one at all has any say over how money works. That’s no way to build a functional society. This is a misanthropic enterprise, at root.

7/But it gets worse. Hobbling the dollar and modern monetary theory makes it impossible for governments to fund the massive investments needed to wean us from carbon-based energy. So the carbon lobby has joined in on the attack. Goldbugs now have carbon interests on their side.

8/I’ve shared this with some extremely smart people and the only response I tend to get is “that’s a terrifying thought.” Worse, I’m confident that it’s correct. This is what’s going on. Ignore at our collective peril. Crypto/gold must be crushed, or at least put in a corner.

9/We have done before and we must do it again. People have not connected the dots as these things are presented as separate problems. But it’s all one problem. Time to see the relationships and start defending fiat currencies; it’s the only way to avoid cooking the planet.

10/If we continue to dither and hand-wave, rather than demand action from our governments, we will lose our habitat, for ourselves and our descendants. That’s what’s on the line. We need to take responsibility and act now.

And of course we shouldn’t forget the 1971 episode where European countries tried to corner the US gold reserve by accumulating convertible dollars. Nixon ended gold convertibility, quashing that move once and for all. So a new strategy was needed. Enter crypto.

In terms of things we might do to transition away from carbon quickly, thus talk offers a good set of suggestions. These are initiatives governments can be funding *now*.

ted.com/talks/jamie_c_…

Meanwhile… 1980 all over again, but this time with more carbon emissions.

https://twitter.com/ideagov/status/1444448622213406723

You and me both, Jeff. And it’s vital that we do so.

https://twitter.com/jstein_wapo/status/1444780130346405889