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75 sats \ 3 replies \ @denlillaapan OP 11h \ parent \ on: Money Isn't a Measuring Stick, Idiots (TDE, Pete Earle) econ
you're "measuring" it in the meaning of counting, snapshot style. But you're not measuring "value" (which is subjective and not visible/objective) and ever-changing. So your measuring "rod" isn't doing the thing the analogy pretends to do
I agree that it's not measuring value...but what is it doing?
you're "measuring" it in the meaning of counting, snapshot style.
This isn't very satisfying. I'm "counting" how many grams of coffee will be traded for this many sats. But I'm using dollars to do the counting because that's the language with which we are both familiar. I can see how it feels like measuring value.
I can see how it works as a snapshot and that is a helpful analogy. But we also say a dollar today is worth some number more dollars next year because the dollar today entails less uncertainty...so what is being "counted" there?
Again, I agree that it's not a measure of value, but I am very curious what it is in these cases.
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I think we're trying to chain two different dollars together. As long as you keep in mind that dollar(t-1) isn't the same as dollar (t) or dollar (t+1), that straightens out a lot of confusion.
(Of course, our ability to chain them statistically are completely hopeless endeavors)
Again, I agree that it's not a measure of value, but I am very curious what it is in these cases. reply
The standard economist answer it's that it's a medium of exchange, ie the rails on which you transact: and those rails work as well today as a year ago (in some ways worse than 20 years ago, in other ways better)
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The standard economist answer it's that it's a medium of exchange,
That makes sense in the case where I buy something with dollars, but I'm asking about my coffee for btc trade denominated in dollars example (and I refuse to accept unit of account as an answer).
I don't think the dollar in my coffee example is a medium of exchange. If I was thinking about aggregated trade denominated in dollars but perhaps settled in something else (as maybe most of the statistics we read about in the news actually are in reality) it starts to feel like a unit of account, but still...there is something else going on on the coffee example at least.
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