I had an older friend ask me to 'explain' bitcoin to him.
No doubt (knowing this friend) he'd gotten some rightwing crapmail about how US CITIES ARE DUMPING THE DOLLAR! (which is patently nonsense).
Yet...
Maybe this isn't news to any of you, but in my explanation to him, it occurred to me Bitcoin is pretty clearly a symptom, not the disease.
World Governments (including the US, certainly) have made it abundantly clear over the last 10-20 years that they DO NOT have the ‘best interest’ of their people at heart; they are only about creating wealth and opportunity for their leaders.
To me, Bitcoin shows that even a system as notionally “objective” as the medium of exchange is subject to a ‘black market’ of sorts when people no longer trust it.
Personally, I still won't dabble in Bitcoins. I can't see replacing one weak, fiat currency (the USD or Euro) with an EVEN WEAKER, EVEN MORE VIRTUAL currency.
Far better to invest in durable goods of value (and yes, if one is that nervous/desperate, precious metals*) than in ANY intermediary fiat currency.
*one would have to recognize that much of the value of these is equally fiat. What good - precisely - is gold, except insofar as it's "universally" valued?
In short, if you're nervous about your liquid cash, I'd say better to turn it into a good rifle and practice to be good with it, than into bitcoins or gold bars.
No doubt (knowing this friend) he'd gotten some rightwing crapmail about how US CITIES ARE DUMPING THE DOLLAR! (which is patently nonsense).
Yet...
Maybe this isn't news to any of you, but in my explanation to him, it occurred to me Bitcoin is pretty clearly a symptom, not the disease.
World Governments (including the US, certainly) have made it abundantly clear over the last 10-20 years that they DO NOT have the ‘best interest’ of their people at heart; they are only about creating wealth and opportunity for their leaders.
To me, Bitcoin shows that even a system as notionally “objective” as the medium of exchange is subject to a ‘black market’ of sorts when people no longer trust it.
Personally, I still won't dabble in Bitcoins. I can't see replacing one weak, fiat currency (the USD or Euro) with an EVEN WEAKER, EVEN MORE VIRTUAL currency.
Far better to invest in durable goods of value (and yes, if one is that nervous/desperate, precious metals*) than in ANY intermediary fiat currency.
*one would have to recognize that much of the value of these is equally fiat. What good - precisely - is gold, except insofar as it's "universally" valued?
In short, if you're nervous about your liquid cash, I'd say better to turn it into a good rifle and practice to be good with it, than into bitcoins or gold bars.
