News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Texas moves to create gold-backed digital currency by throw0101b on Tuesday May 09, 2023 @07:20AM (#35872624)
> so that there's no way to actually save money in the long-term.

Besides equities? Besides TIPS?

* https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tips.asp

Do you literally keep bills under your mattress or buried in your backyard? There's your problem.

Re:Texas moves to create gold-backed digital currency by bheadmaster on Tuesday May 09, 2023 @08:00AM (#35873015)
> Do you literally keep bills under your mattress or buried in your backyard? There's your problem.

No, there's not my problem. The problem is that the government keeps printing money, so my bills under my mattress or buried in my backyard keep dropping in value. The fact that there are securities that are literally called "Inflation-Protected" as an antidote to that only serves as a proof of the original problem.

> But you can save money!

No, you can invest money. But investing should not be mandatory just to keep your wealth from rotting.

Re:Texas moves to create gold-backed digital currency by throw0101b on Tuesday May 09, 2023 @10:32PM (#35882969)
> The problem is that the government keeps printing money […]

Except that it doesn't. Money is created by private banks through credit (loan, mortgage) creation:

* https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/m...

* https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/explainers/how-is-money-crea...

> […] so my bills under my mattress or buried in my backyard keep dropping in value.

Yes, this is a feature: the discouragement of the non-productive uses of capital and hoarding à la Scrooge McDuck.

> No, you can invest money.

Most people actually save and do not invest:

* https://www.pragcap.com/saving-is-not-the-key-to-financial-s...

Re:Texas moves to create gold-backed digital currency by bheadmaster on Wednesday May 10, 2023 @12:56PM (#35890049)
> Yes, this is a feature: the discouragement of the non-productive uses of capital and hoarding à la Scrooge McDuck.

I sincerely doubt that "disouragement of the non-productive uses of capital" is the main reason for inflation. Linear tax on having money would do much better. Besides, except for a pathological example where scarcity of money causes deflation, why would it matter if someone is hoarding money?

If they're saving for something that costs e.g. 10 years wage, "hoarding" money is the only way they'd ever save that much. But with constant inflation, it's basically impossible - the only way to "save" money for something that expensive is to take a loan... Which again seems to lead back into banks' pockets. Who actually hoard money.

The game seems rigged, and all "explanations" for inflation just sound like bad lies given by Wall Street brokers high on coke.