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Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Ma8ee on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @04:35PM (#27200703)
And why would you want a deflationary currency? If you see it as an investment, then of course. But for the general economy it is better when people spend their money sooner rather than later, and capital gets invested where it does something useful.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by ptr2voidStar on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @06:00PM (#27201847)
Ah, the old Keynesian argument...
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Ericson2314 on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @06:10PM (#27201938)
Um yes? And reality consistently confirms Keynsian/demand-side modeling.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by 988747 on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @06:23PM (#27202064)
Keynsian demand-driven economy is the root of all evil, i.e. market bubbles that pop eventually. Everyone except market speculators would be much better of with supply-driven economy and small deflation.

For one it would provide incentive to save money and spend it wisely, instead of mindlessly buying all that unnecessary crap.

Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by yellowapple on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @07:50PM (#27202826)
> Everyone except market speculators

And debtors. The very notion of taking out a loan for something becomes nigh impossible with a deflationary currency, particularly one as deflationary as Bitcoin. Seeing as how the lower and middle class tend to take out loans for all sorts of reasons (since if they had the sort of cash lying around to buy homes and cars and appliances and such outright, they probably would be neither lower nor middle class), the direct harm such a currency would have is readily apparent.

Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Ericson2314 on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @03:37AM (#27205679)
While I'm skeptical of homeownership and car ownership in particular for other reasons, absolutely a healthy capitalist economy needs easy access to credit for potentially socially useful activities.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by strangeattractr on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @08:51PM (#27203294)
Strange reading of Keynes. I never read him advocate for rampant wasteful consumerism. In fact many of his arguments about government intervention (investment) are derived by his observation that consumption is prone to drying up.

I also don't see how Keynes and speculative frenzies are connected, considering they existed long before his Treatise or General Theory.

Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by 988747 on Friday May 21, 2021 @06:04PM (#27240559)
Keynes advocated for rate cuts as a remedy for crises. His reasoning being that cheap credit will stimulate demand for consumer goods. It's almost the textbook definition of "wasteful consumerism".
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Ericson2314 on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @03:40AM (#27205695)
Indeed, and bubbles are in assets not goods to consumption, and stimulus is supposed to boost consumption in the first order, so the comparison seems even more far fetched.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by ephbit on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:49AM (#27206858)
> ... his observation that consumption is prone to drying up.

Now that wording has a certain ring to it (in my ears).

"Consumption prone to drying up"? As if consumption alone were of any value. As if consumption were the foundation of all well being. As if it were something that needs to be tended to like some garden with flower beds.

Sounds more like ideology to me instead of reasoning.

Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Ericson2314 on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @07:10PM (#27215623)
Keynesian isn't a value judgement on whether various sorts of consumption are good. It's firstly a description of how capitalist economies actually work, and secondarily a toolkit of policy based on that description. The focus on demand is primary because how it affects the economy writ large.

In fact, Keynes himself famously thought that would be working 15 hours a week by now instead of...well...wherever all the work is going, some of which I suppose is propping up the consumption you don't approve of.

Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Ma8ee on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @02:54AM (#27205427)
It's a pity then that supply side economy doesn't work.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by longwick on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @07:42PM (#27202765)
Ah another free market neoliberalist. You do know that government intervention during Keynesian’s time was incredibly helpful for the macro economy - providing jobs and investment into long running avenues. Neoliberalism purports that the private sector will invest diligently but really we’re seeing companies use shortermism as a technique to just make profit.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Ma8ee on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @02:52AM (#27205420)
And Keynes has empirically done very well, thank you.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by 3np on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @06:29PM (#27202111)
Well, now that it exists, what would you as an individual rather keep your cash in compared to inflationary fiat held in an account with negative interest rate?
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by ProjectArcturis on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @07:41PM (#27202757)
Genuine investments in companies, real estate, and other hard assets which actually produce cash flow rather than BTC whose value depends on the madness of crowds and the tweets of eccentric billionaires.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by Qwertious on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @07:43PM (#27202783)
Investment portfolios exist. They also reduce the cost of loans, thus making it easier for companies to grow and speeding up innovation. In comparison, the only thing "investing" in cryptocurrency does, is encourage larger economies of scale for cryptocurrency (which, side note, has built in mechanisms to actively prevent it from becoming more efficient).
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by staticassertion on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @08:36PM (#27203178)
I don't know a single person who holds their money in 'cash'. They invest it in the market, real-estate, business development, etc.
Re:Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge by throwaway2037 on Wednesday May 19, 2021 @06:11AM (#27206586)
I am one who holds cash. Not all, but not an insignificant portion either. I have a mixture of assets. Why not invest that cash? None of the investment opportunities that I see fit my risk profile. Example: I'm holding my stocks now, but I do not plan to buy more.

The average middle class (and below) person in any highly developed country has a mixture of assets, dominated by their house and cash savings in a bank. Most don't directly own financial assets -- stocks, bonds, etc. However, they are invested in a pension (national or private) that will certainly invest in financial assets.