On Wednesday, May 29, 2013 16:56:31 Michael Torrie wrote: > Speaking of economics, I know that a few pluggers are diehard > libertarians. What do libertarian-mind people think of bitcoin? In > some respects it's more like a gold standard in that there is a finite > amount of bitcoins that can ever exist. On the other hand it is just as > fictional as fiat currency.
The difference is that the Government doesn't have a monopoly on Bitcoins. The fact that there isn't a controlling body that regulates how many Bitcoins are in circulation helps keep it out of the fiat currency camp. And why is the gold standard not a fiat currency? It's only worth what people think it's worth. Gold has little intrinsic value other than gold plated connectors and looking pretty. It just happens to be something that people value. It reminds me a little of Bottlecaps in video game Fallout. Because people value them and use them as a medium for exchanging goods they're as real as any other currency. Look at cigarettes in Germany/Russia after WW2. They were in limited supply, people valued them, and they used them to exchange goods. In my opinion, it's not what the currency is backed up by, but who controls the currency. Being able to print millions, billions, or trillions of dollars on a whim is what makes the USD or most other modern currencies fiat currencies. -- Jessie A. Morris 801-210-1526 [email protected] /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
