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311 sats \ 10 replies \ @south_korea_ln 12 Dec \ on: 25% of Americans Can Barely Read (_The Economist_) BooksAndArticles
I know you are likely being tongue in cheek here. So i won't take it at face value~~
But it reminds me of one of the arguments i have heard against bitcoin, i.e. why would one work or do anything positively contributing to society. One can just hold bitcoin and do nothing. The efforts of others should make the value of bitcoin go up to account for the tech they make, the stuff they produce, etc.
I know there is a fiat mindset to this argument, namely consumerism, but I'd be happy if one could convince me that bitcoin will not make people lazy or suffer from similar side effects seen in the money printing world. It's ok, too, to tell me: it's nuanced and Bitcoin won't solve everything. I dont have a clear view on this.
Here's a counter-question as a response to that criticism: where do the people get the Bitcoin from, and how do they get so much of it that they can afford to live off the appreciation alone?
For most people their day-to-day expenses will exceed whatever value appreciation they can get from their stack, and so they will be forced to work in order to not run out of Bitcoin.
Another way to look is that if nobody is working because they think their Bitcoin appreciation will keep them fed, then the prices of everything else will go up due to high demand and lack of supply. Further, because everybody thinks their stack is enough to live off, the demand for Bitcoin will drop and the supply on the market will increase (because everyone is spending it).
Both these effects will work to lower the purchasing power of Bitcoin and hence encourage people to work again.
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...also, piling on to this: the types of people who has a large enough stack to never worry about fiat expenses ever again (not that many, since there are always things to want -- houses, vacation etc -- and that opportunity cost of not stacking is huge) must have iron fucking balls to have held for this long, unwavering.
And then I'll chalk it up to them deserving it. Your ability to hold/stack/amass for long period is proportionate to your conviction, which is dependent on your knowledge and study. So, good on yahs.
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Here's my best try:
during the transition period, when bitcoin is merely proto-money and thus appreciate at insane rates, I'm sure a lot of Bitcoiners are/will become lazy as you say. Their command over real goods and services increase passively faster than they could toil away at a dead-end job... so, they quit, get lazy etc.
But it passes, and their sats ultimately have to be redistributed to others who work (for them and others).
And then, on a better monetary standard, the punishment for not-giving-a-damn and no longer providing value = destitution. So there's a pretty harsh stick coming
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Good answer.
In the long run, if we're on a Bitcoin standard, I would anticipate price stability. Thus holding Bitcoin without working would be like staying still... you can't survive on staying still, you still have to work.
I remember reading somewhere that prices were so stable during the middle ages that people thought of prices as inherent characteristics of goods... it's only in modern times that prices keep going up because of endless money printing
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All interesting answers. Giving me food for thought. Thank you
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you cant print it so if ur lazy / dont create new value, youll be a forced seller eventually and wont be able to do anything to get more, so as btc becomes more used in the real economy, youll only be able to get it by creating real value.
the non-printing part is the key to eradicating lazy cronyism imo 🤙
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Bitcoin has worked me work more, because at last I have something to work for.
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- has made me work more
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