Thread by @AGratefulApe

5 things I appreciated learning about Economics from @JeffBooth's Series on @WhatisMoneyShow
w/ @Breedlove22 #BTC #Bitcoin (1/14)

1) Hydrocarbons are basically old sunlight stored underground that we need to dig up and transport and with solar we will eventually bypass the whole distribution system and democratize the capture solar energy where we are! (2/14)

I appreciated this perspective because it shows us that all animals are basically batteries that store energy from sunlight. Fossil fuels are just animals that have decomposed into a different form and are now being extracted. Renewables stabilized by bitcoin mining (3/14)

will enable us to bypass the middleman (oil shipping/pipelines), produce excess energy, and get closer to being a type I civilization (Thank you @Kurz_Gesagt for teaching me what this means in a nutshell 😉) (4/14)

2) "How does an existing system that inflates by printing money and has to grow forever work on a finite planet?" @JeffBooth
"Especially when technology is the most powerful deflationary force we have ever seen?" (5/14)

Here @JeffBooth makes argues that the deflationary force of #Bitcoin can significantly reduce incentives of excess consumerism which will help fight global warming! (6/14)

I appreciate the depth it takes to go past 1st order effects and study something deeply to understand 2nd order effects that actually counter the first! Talk about low time preference thinking. (This is also a major thesis in his book "The price of tomorrow") (7/14)

3) "In an inflationary system we need ever rising wages through jobs to keep up." @JeffBooth
Economic growth at the company level is the replacement of labor with software/AI (8/14)

Logic dictates that these two can't go together. #unsustainable Now that I've understood this it's very difficult to "unsee" yet despite understanding the underlying systems I never saw it. That's true creativity (9/14)

4) "All goods are ultimately services" @Breedlove22
Often businesses are categorized as products or services. This more nuanced point of view will lead to focusing on needs and fulfilling them through whichever path is most efficient and sustainable in the long term. (10/14)

This is one of those I always knew this but never articulated it. Thank you for the words (11/14)

5) "Inflation (printing) is the process of pushing prices up so you can give other people more (social services) to be able to pay for the prices that you pushed up." @JeffBooth
I had to rewind and listen to this part 3x to understand it! (12/14)

This works in the short term but ultimately raises prices which leads to more poverty in the long term. It also inflates asset prices which further promotes inequality and perceived scarcity which causes divisiveness. (13/14)

I appreciate this focus on first principles thinking. Surprisingly the apparent solution to the problem causes more of the problem!
In Austrian econ Inflation is defined as "Increase in money supply" vs increase in prices due to excess demand. Now it makes sense why. (14/14)