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Re:Bitcoin is ‘disgusting and contrary to the interests of c... by llimos on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @06:54AM (#27036133)
Unfortunately quite a lot of today's economy is contrary to the interests of civilization.

Businesses can be broadly split into 3 categories:

1. Those that create value and sell it or exchange it on the market (not necessarily necessary things, but things that someone wants.)

2. Those that don't add value in and of themselves but are necessary because markets are imperfect (accountants, lawyers, ad agencies, marketing consultants)

3. Those that exploit the fact that markets are imperfect, for profit (hedge funds, speculators [including bitcoin], the non-advisory side of investment banks, landlords, patent trolls, any sort of rentier)

And guess which of those is where the money is. But (2) and (3) do not contribute to society since they do not add to its overall value.

I would love to see a government somewhere actively encourage (1) companies, through policy incentives etc., to bring the balance back. Not going to happen though.

Addendum: I put ad agencies in number 2. I'm not talking about companies that do add value, but ads is how you pay for it (Google, Facebook, TV and radio stations.) Those are number 1 businesses.

Re:Bitcoin is ‘disgusting and contrary to the interests of c... by bko on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @07:03AM (#27036201)
> I would love to see a government somewhere actively encourage (1) companies, through policy incentives etc.,

Ironically much of the work in 2 and 3 from your list is a direct result of government trying to "encourage" and "discourage" certain behavior.

Accountants for overly complicated tax codes

Lawyers for overly complicated regulation

Patent trolls for overly complicated IP protection

Landlords for overly restrictive zoning regulation

...