Note that bitcoin mining does not primarily exist to increase the amount of bitcoin in existence. That's just part of the incentive to mine.
Bitcoin mining exists to timestamp transactions so that the network can achieve consensus on the state of the ledger. It is designed to use as much energy as possible, so as to make it expensive to cheat.
Re:Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index
by tylersmith on Saturday August 26, 2017 @05:37PM
(#15107625)
In fact, in the white paper it's just described as the decentralized time stamp server and that's its entire purpose. The term "blockchain" and all the hype about its magic powers came later.
A valid comparison. Gold mining is spending resources to increase the amount of gold in existence, without delivering any other value.
> U.S. dollars require the existence of a powerful economy and trillion dollar military to keep the currency secure and desirable.
Not a valid comparison. Outside of a few relatively inexpensive activities at the US Mint and inside banks, no resources are being spent specifically on increasing the money supply. The value of the dollar is the byproduct of economic activity that exists primarily to achieve other things.