I agree with you. I don’t mean to suggest economic machinations are trivial, but some of the comments in this subthread raise counterpoints that I think casually dismiss the original points.

It’s true, but hardly limited to this subthread. While I disagree with most of HN about cryptocurrency and economics, the discussions are significantly more considerate and studied than anything I’ve come across in my daily life. Even society’s proclaimed experts seem to have an admittedly limited understanding and predictive capability. At the core, economics are an expression of collective human desire and thus it seems it will never be truly rigorous.

Money is a faith.

Put your faith in the entire human history of scarcity leading to optimization, or you can try the US Federal Reserve and Bretton Woods.

what I don't understand is Modern Monetary Theory: https://www.investopedia.com/modern-monetary-theory-mmt-4588...

Could it be that all this worry about printing money really doesn't matter?

As long as the US dollar is the global reserve currency, then forcing all other countries to accept our infinite printing is easier. But MMT will incentivize foreign countries to use alternatives, and when the US dollar is no longer a reserve currency, the game is over. MMT also requires the government to rapidly increase and reduce taxes, from my research on it. All of this makes it intellectual masturbation, plus a very terrible idea IMO.

It only doesn't matter as long as your demand outstrips supply --

Read as: as long as others want access and are not fully satiated to you, your affiliates, or what you both possess

So, yes. Also, if the answer is "no", we're already very screwed.