Re:Anthony Bourdain on not having debt
by ska on Thursday March 16, 2017 @12:05PM
(#13886156)
I think you missed the point I was trying to make, so I will try again.
[edit: I had a longer response but realize it opened up a bunch of side issues that weren't helpful]
The economy and the system of government it operates in (yes, including black/grey markets) are fundamentally intertwined in ways that make it hard to reason about separately.
What I'm objecting to are statements that boil down to:
"If we all paid X less tax I would have X more dollars which we could do as we please with". In general this is hopelessly naive.
For what it is worth, both your examples of failed states and cryptocurrrencies (which do not, yet?, operate as currencies) support exactly what I am talking about, not the converse.
The attempt to divide an conquer in thinking about economies and government is useful but so far not completely successful. When it leads to people making silly inferences, it is problematic. So yes people talk about them as if they were separate, because it is easier. But that is not the same as having separated them.
[edit: I had a longer response but realize it opened up a bunch of side issues that weren't helpful]
The economy and the system of government it operates in (yes, including black/grey markets) are fundamentally intertwined in ways that make it hard to reason about separately.
What I'm objecting to are statements that boil down to: "If we all paid X less tax I would have X more dollars which we could do as we please with". In general this is hopelessly naive.
For what it is worth, both your examples of failed states and cryptocurrrencies (which do not, yet?, operate as currencies) support exactly what I am talking about, not the converse.
The attempt to divide an conquer in thinking about economies and government is useful but so far not completely successful. When it leads to people making silly inferences, it is problematic. So yes people talk about them as if they were separate, because it is easier. But that is not the same as having separated them.