Where Did The Time Go?
Before we get into the meat of things…
Nearly 2 years ago I wrote an article on how bitcoin causes the individual to think about their time in a manner that is radical to Keynesians and MMT’ers (that’s Modern Monetary Theorists). MMT’ers tend to hold a position that dollars that are not actively circulating throughout the economy are being “wasted” because they’re not being pushed through the market via consumerism. An unrealistic worldview where the belief is that every iota of a money or currency needs to be exchanging hands as often as possible, a measurement otherwise known as velocity. Now, every money is going to have velocity, that is not the issue. The issue is in believing that velocity should be maximized, to the tune of disincentivizing saving in this system. A view that attempts to do away with the concept of savings or having a capital cushion (like Apple or Berkshire Hathaway and their billions in cash positions). As if an individual not spending frivolously, having a capital cushion, being able to weather economic hardship, is not providing a service to their community or society. As if an individual being sovereign, and resilient, isn’t valuable to their countrymen by working to prevent themselves from becoming a charity case. As if the average American shouldn’t be allowed to take such precautions as these large corporations and hedge funds do.
These self-proclaimed masters of economics believe that money needs to be inflated away, that time needs to be stolen from the average Joe & Jane in order to see economic growth in a society.
Some of the best ideas can come under pressure, sure. But many others also come out of the serenity and peace of freedom. These MMT’ers believe that it is a requirement to coerce citizens with slow, gentle nudges into poverty with an arbitrarily determined inflation rate. A slow boil to trap them so there’s no escape but total loss — that’s the point of a slow boil after all. This “slow boil” that has pushed entrepreneurs of every make and model to become addicted to utilizing cheap debt to pull forward growth and base valuations off futures that are not certain, and make business bets that are fundamentally highly risky but have become normalized due to biases in recency and availability.
You show up for the gains, but you stay for the freedom.
Why shouldn’t the average individual be capable of saving in a money/asset that swells in value because it is highly sought-after and widely desired by the market? And why is it radical to think that human beings are incapable of responsibly assaying & managing such a tool as a money? Is there not more evidence to show that people are fallible, manipulatable, vain and greedy? Is there not plenty of evidence that those with the power to do so, will take advantage, and lie, and steal, and cheat — abusing positions of power that are afforded — when it suits them?
Have you stopped to think about what happens to people when they are saving in an asset as described? What happens when your net worth increases by doing something as simple as saving in an asset that is free of human counterparty risk? Where you do not need to worry about the CEO having a sex scandal (which is all of the time), or the board of directors proving to be a board of morons (also occurring all of the time), or your bank doing something stupid and losing your hard-earned wealth. Do you know what happens?
A Spoonful of Liberty…
You gain freedom. Freedom from one more worry in the day-to-day. We had this kind of freedom in America following WW2. You knowwww… after the European continent was left obliterated, and Russia had exhausted their own resources, and essentially the entire world was beholden to our oil production and gold reserves (which swelled thanks to seizures following Allied military victories across Europe and Northern Africa). On the gold standard Americans enjoyed the fruitful life that is possible when saving in an asset that is finite. Now, I can feel the ire here. The caveat is that it wasn’t just that they were saving in gold, some were — sure, but the majority were saving in a currency that was “pegged” to a measure of gold. Meaning that said currency would inflate in value as the price of the underlying commodity floated consistently upward. So, for a quarter of a century the Average (G.I.) Joe benefitted greatly. Then the powers-that-be wizened-up and put an end to that “freeloading,” as the Keynesians would put it, under their daddy Richard Nixon.
Saving in an asset outside of the control of fools & zealots is a proper move in the direction of freedom, vs control. Gold was the original champion, but the dawning of the modern era has rapidly made gold, as an investment asset, let alone a money, untenable. In an age where gold has been captured by the state, and privacy is a long-gone fantasy, one must go farther out to the edges of innovation to find their freedom. Financial or otherwise. Including freedom from one more anxiety over an unknowable future. Where one does not have to rely on hope that a room full of forked-tongue politicians won’t rapidly debase the currency in which they measure their time and livelihoods.
While the future still remains very much unknowable, you can rest assured with an asset like bitcoin that the network will be updating the ledger every 9 to 10 minutes, and that the ledger will be continuously checked, and re-checked, into perpetuity to make sure there are no mistakes or miscommunications.
Freedom From Worry; Not “Nothing”
That means something. That means something to the body and the mind of every soul that chooses to interface with such a protocol. By freeing up the mind and the spirit of such concerns, it allows one the energy and capacity to seek out new experiences. Such as making improvements on their health and lifestyles that were being suppressed due to economic woes. Or for potentially developing new skill sets, new passions. Or perhaps growing their family, maybe forming a new one entirely? Maybe starting a business with new skills that they’ve attained in this newfound freedom. Maybe all of the above?
The natural, healthy state of man is in chasing passions and hobbies that provide enough challenge to force creativity and thought, while still being enjoyable enough that we seek out success within these fields. Whether it’s figuring out how to build a better gazebo in the backyard for comfort and shade in the summer evenings, or growing a better garden, or how to play piano – the drive is the same. We all enjoy gaining proficiency in the areas of our lives that we value and enjoy.
The funny thing about the Keynesians and MMT’ers is that, in my experience, they tend to believe that the average individual won’t do such things with their free time. That they will just drink and drug themselves into a stupor if they had such access, or that they will simply be unproductive. First of all, let me tell you from my own personal experiences as an individual that consumed alcohol at a terrifying and dangerous clip; there aren’t as many of these individuals as many of us like to think. We see people partying all the time and think that the majority of the population is doing it – this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The reality is that the majority of the population barely has the time or the financial capability to be able to afford such activity. What’s worse is that both groups end up engaging in unhealthy lifestyle choices in the way of their food intake and physical activity levels. Both of these groups get funneled by the Fiat Hamster Wheel (FHW) into a positive feedback loop of negative health outcomes that can take years to climb out of. In today’s age that also means mountains of costs – because our healthcare system is failing us. Among the many other failing systems that were meant to provide support, but end up developing into costly addictions.
We work to get money, with the hopes of said money enabling us to buy freedom(s) in the future. Such as the freedom from inefficient work, or the freedom of mobility in the form of a vehicle and purchasing gasoline. Unfortunately, the cleverness of our species has also enabled very effective strategies to entice us away from our money (our time) – this is where the average individual can get stuck on the FHW.
I have a question to ask you: have you thought about what you would do with your time if your worries about money were dramatically reduced? Not that your current hardships were immediately removed — that’s fantasy — but dramatically reduced in the sense of being able to see a way out of your current difficulties. Of being able to see a workable strategy forward. Having a goal that is worth working toward that requires less consistent effort than the current environment requires.
What would you do with such a radical increase in your freedom of time, of worry, and of your financial future?
Stay tuned for Part II
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