The Contestant

2 comments on Hacker News

1. NegativekkfxApr 24, 2022

   IMVHO the issue is more on the mere understanding what money is. I suggest rediscover a small scene from a Colombian movie (witch is nothing really interesting IMO beside that small sketch): El Concursante, here the relevant part: https://youtu.be/WpGhcDg7IJ4 that's the more clear and simple compact explanation of the nature of money.

   In short: a currency is a symbol, a unit of measure, a cohort of people accept in place of something tangible. It reason is that we can exchange goods one counter another in the classic barter BUT sometimes two party have something to exchange that mach sometimes no, the general symbolic unit of measure solve that issue.

   Having understood that we can comprehend that actual issue is not the banking systems with a central bank but the fact that such bank is private and do not generate unit of measure for the public according to current public needs, they loan them treating money as the substrate of anything instead of the inverse.

   Understood that we comprehend that the solution is not finding new unit of measure of some kind but made central banks public and private banking without any seigniorage or power in the central bank.

   Cryptos are surely the ideas Big of IT have to ingest banking sector under their control, and banking sector understand that well, see for instance https://voxeu.org/content/banking-disrupted-financial-intermediation-era-transformational-technology and https://voxeu.org/article/digitalisation-and-future-banking they are even worst for the public because with physical cash limits are artificial, with cryptos the need of iron and connection are practical.

2. PositivekkfxMar 28, 2022

   I have a far shorter and simpler definition: money are a unit of measure a certain cohort of people agree to accept. They measure "valuables" things to trade, from goods to human work.

   Private money so money == debt is a popular not-that-modern and widespread scam to keep a strong grip on the society by a small number of people. In the past we have had a bit of power subdivisions:

   - army power, represented by the State

   - religion power, represented by the clergy

   - economy power, represented by merchants

   Army need religion to keep people obeisant and economy to have natural resources and means to transform them for war and life. Religion need army to be protected, to crush enemy religions and economy to remain in power. Economy need army to protect it's own interests and religion to justify it's own crimes. After the French revolution economy became the State and a religion. And that's why economy now is ruled by dictatorial thieves and being those just "economist" they can't rule well. As clergy they have learnt very well how to pasture the masses, but as State they both do not really know how to fight a war nor how to rule a country and that's the reason of our deep crisis. The rest is noise.

   Any dictatorship to remain in power need a vast majority of loyal and obedient subjects, to elicit them they need to give something, not just rhetoric, the classic panem et circense. Since there are oppositions they need to give much while they earn much, much more, and so resources get depleted quickly, that a war arrive to justify the disaster, sometimes suffice if there are a ready resourceful and fable enemy, sometimes not and dictators end up badly. Some try to ride the revolt sacrificing some puppets to be substituted by other, again sometimes work, sometimes no. Since we need a society to live well money remain anyway a unit of measure and people keep accepting it at different weight depending on the current situation and the game keep going.

   The best video-tutorial I see is in a small part of a Colombian movie "El Concursante", perhaps some can find subs in various languages https://youtu.be/WpGhcDg7IJ4