10 sats \ 14 replies \ @SpaceHodler OP 27 Jul \ parent \ on: Monetary inflation is NOT taxation econ
Why do you think printing dollars is taxation, but growing potatoes isn't?
All both do is increase the supply of a good.
The issue is the exclusive control. Anyone can look for gold or grow potatoes, no one except the state endorsed banking cartel can change the fiat ledger.
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But why is it an issue?
Do you think the world would be a better place if everyone were allowed to print dollars or change the USD ledger?
Just the fact someone can do that makes it unfit for the purpose, regardless of whether it's one person or 8 billion.
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You're asking why it's different than potatoes, and I'm saying that's why.
The world absolutely would be a better place If anyone could create USD since it would massively accelerate the transition to a hard money system.
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Anyone can print Monopoly money, so we already have something that matches the level of shittiness you want a money to have.
You just need to convince everyone to switch from US dollars to Monopoly dollars, and then people's transition to a hard money system will accelerate.
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You seem to be missing my point completely..
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I understand you want to control outcomes, just like the left wingers do.
People will use what they want to use. You can only influence their decisions by adding products to the market, not by taking someone else's products away.
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Another reason the Fed's monopoly is not that relevant is that it could be achieved without coercion anyway. If the physical features like watermarks are not enough, the issuance of dollars in digital form could be secured with cryptography.
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Potatoes are consumed once. Potatoes are perishable.
Growing excessive potatoes does not cause monetary expansion.
Excess potatoes affects no price other than that of potatoes.
It’s like dollars and potatoes — different things.
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Excess potatoes affects no price other than that of potatoes.
Excess potatoes affects the price of literally everything expressed in potatoes.
It's just that not many people choose to use potatoes as money. Most people choose to instead use a particular other thing equally unfit for the purpose.
Perishability is not that relevant here. Real estate is also used as a SoV and it doesn't last forever.
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How about mining gold on a gold standard? Is mining gold taxation somehow?
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Closer, in that if a gold standard of money existed, the government mining more gold would be similar to a stealth tax in practice (with an expansion of the monetary base), but not a tax, because of the lack of exclusive production rights.
Except the US -- where it was illegal in 1933-74 to own gold, other places in the world could dig it up any time, this was not coercive, and did not 'tax' other gold standard countries.
Potatoes or any other non monetary instrument can be produced by anyone.
Fiat money can only be produced by an organization with a monopoly on violence. Potatoes and gold can be mined by private corporations, and their production is not a tax.
Ultimately the purpose of a tax is to offset monetary creation by the state. if the debt cannot be settled by a direct tax, the state will settle the debt by debasement.
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Obviously, I disapprove of the state's monopoly on violence, so we can leave that aside.
There's no plausible argument that you have a property right in the purchasing power of your monetary savings. Purchasing power is based on the subjective valuation of sellers and you have no claim over that. All you can have a property right to is the units of money in your possession.
Since you have no right to purchasing power, you aren't being expropriated when your purchasing power is reduced via inflation.
Where your rights are being violated is in not being allowed to produce your own money. When the state enriches itself through inflation, it's really rent seeking off of that abridgement of your rights.
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I disagree with that core premise that you do not own the PP, that it isn’t a core part of a modern advanced economy.
This is like one of the most important things that a stable society is said to provide, without it, commerce degrades to subsistence barter.
One cannot have an advanced economy without stability in at least one of your trade instruments.
I think it’s all about life, and time. Too many potatoes rarely ever eat into the stored value of a societies savings.
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Just because it's important doesn't mean you can own it. Other people are fundamental to an advanced economy, too, it doesn't imply that you can own them.
You didn't contend with my point. Purchasing power consists of thoughts in other peoples minds. What is your argument for being able to own other people's thoughts?
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