War is inflationary. Not because it sends oil prices higher, but because governments pay for war by creating inflation. Instead of raising taxes, they run larger deficits, which central banks then monetize. War also diverts resources away from the production of consumer goods.
There is a curious pattern one encounters in large parts of the BTC and broader crypto world.
The rhetoric is always grand. They are "changing the world." They are "fixing money." They are "building the future."
Yet when one examines what they actually discuss from morning until night, it is rarely systems, commerce, productivity, engineering, trade, or utility. It is price. Always price.
A merchant asks how to process a million transactions. Silence.
An engineer asks how to scale for global commerce. Silence.
A businessman asks how to reduce costs for international trade. Silence.
But whisper that a token might go up 20% next week and suddenly the room becomes a symposium of experts.
The irony is almost artistic.
Bitcoin was conceived as digital cash: a system for facilitating economic activity. A tool. A network. Infrastructure.
Many of its loudest modern evangelists have transformed it into something else entirely: a perpetual lottery ticket accompanied by a moral sermon.
Psychologists have names for certain personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy. Not because everyone involved possesses them, but because the common thread is the same. The focus is not on creating value. The focus is on extracting it.
Building wealth and capturing wealth are not the same thing.
The industrialist builds a factory.
The engineer builds a system.
The entrepreneur builds a business.
The speculator waits for someone else to arrive and pay more.
One activity expands the economic pie. The other merely argues over who gets the larger slice.
And that is the uncomfortable truth.
A surprising number of people in crypto speak as though they are participating in a technological revolution when, in reality, they are participating in a contest to transfer money from later entrants to earlier ones.
No new production.
No new services.
No new commerce.
Just a sophisticated justification for hoping somebody else buys higher.
The saddest part is not the greed. Greed is at least honest.
The saddest part is the self-deception.
They imagine themselves pioneers while discussing little beyond price charts.
They imagine themselves visionaries while contributing nothing to production.
They imagine themselves revolutionaries while spending their days refreshing a market ticker.
History tends to be rather cruel to such people.
It remembers the builders.
It remembers the inventors.
It remembers the merchants.
It remembers the engineers.
The gamblers are usually forgotten shortly after the table closes.
Schiff warns America’s debt-fueled economy depends on promises that can’t be kept - and confidence is the only thing holding it together.
https://t.co/YmoNBdvnJ1