Oddbean new post about login | logout It’s working though. I was explaining to someone IRL yesterday that inflationary money encourages spending ASAP and deflationary encourages saving, but everyone has to spend, so you think more about purchases, and this would drive up the quality of goods and services They got confused and scared
You’re saying that inflationary or deflationary money increases the quality of goods?
I think if the money were deflationary and people were therefore a lot choosier with their spending, then shitty options for those goods and services would not be successful. So yes, maybe not directly, but that’s what the incentives look like to me. You don’t think so?
I know. Had a similar conversation with my pro government friend. Same thing. He doesn’t get it
I told him about Weimar Germany and suggested that he reads when money dies. I’m not fully convinced he will
The “expert” economists make one valid argument. Some companies would collapse if this happened. But they’re the ones making the shittiest products that nobody actually needs and are ruining the environment with disposable trash.
This. The fud is successful enough to get people who care about that kind of stuff the most to hate bitcoin regardless. Mfers 😤
I mean, imagine delaying a purchase until you really need something and have the time to examine the quality. https://image.nostr.build/a655762a0ec1fccc1edd8538cee950d126d36277dbd3199b7587f8c6003e554e.gif
Bitcoin is not deflationary. Deflationary money WOULD be bad. Then people would be less productive. Technology is deflationary. A FIXED money just lets us accurately measure that deflationary effect. Bitcoin is neither inflationary nor deflationary. It's fixed. I only chime in because I think it's actually an important distinction.
The value of bitcoin goes up forever. If I buy a loaf of bread, doesn’t its price in sats go down in time?
Yes... Because technology make us more productive. We get more bread for less work over time. The value of Bitcoin goes up forever because technology is deflationary, not because there are less units of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin has an inflation schedule and is progressively decreasing (halving) that rate.
And it's supply is... Fixed. It's not and "inflation schedule" it's a distribution schedule.
Inflate to 21M tell me the difference it means the same thing, we’re not there yet.
That doesn't change the fact that there is cap. Just because we haven't reached it yet, does not change the nature of the currency.
What’s your point
That Bitcoin isn't deflationary and that a deflationary money would be bad.
I think your generalizations are bad. Bitcoin is lots of things to lots of people. Why are you so hell bent on getting everyone to parrot your words here anyway? Believe what you want I see it a different way and likely that is because you and I have different amounts of it, income, spending habits, world view…
I'm not trying to get anyone to parrot anything. I'm stating a fact. I'm not making generalizations. Why are you so combative? If you can explain how I'm wrong, I'm all ears, I'll hear you out and maybe we disagree. I've explained my position. I'm not trying to argue with you or anyone else. I'm just trying to inform people Im interacting with about the nature bod the currency we all love so we don't continue to miscarachterize it in the future.
Because I disagree with what you’re saying (whether it’s actually inflationary or deflationary can change over time and I think it’s most likely to prove deflationary due to lost coins and halvings primarily.) and apparently I believe in that as much as you believe in what you’re saying. Maybe if you could spell mischaracterize I would give your definitions more consideration.
I type fast an make mistakes. Proper spelling isn't that important. Trying to use that as an insult is strange. Again... It's not really a belief. It's just a fact. I'm not trying to argue with you. I've tried to explain it several times and I'm not sure if you're really even reading what I'm typing or trying to actually comprehend it. I hope you have a gn anyways though. You're free to disagree, but you should be able to explain why you disagree. Deflationary money would mean there would be less supply over time. Bitcoin will always have 21 million units. That's not more supply or ess supply. It's a fixed supply. There is a third option. Inflation = +1 Deflation = -1 Fixed = 0 The distribution schedule and max supply has remained the same since the genesis block and will always remain the same. If it doesn't, it's not Bitcoin.
The dollar is inflationary right. Since more is printed every year its value goes down. Bitcoin on the other hand, goes up forever in value because of all of its properties. It’s deflationary: its value goes up as time passes.
Inflation = +1 Deflation = -1 Bitcoin = 0 We aren't destroying units of Bitcoin. The same way we aren't creating units of Bitcoin. The amount is fixed. It's not deflationary. Technology is deflationary. Bitcoin being fixed, helps us measure nature accurately.
The bitcoin standard (and other books) clearly state that bitcoin is deflationary. So I disagree with you. But that’s ok. We don’t need to agree on everything 🫂
This isn't an argument. It's just a factual statement. Perhaps you should read Jeff Booths book. 👌🏻
And you the bitcoin standard 🫂
Printing more is inflation right? So deflation would be eliminating units in circulation, correct? At what point do we start to take away from the 21 million? We don't. It's not deflationary. Again, technology is and Bitcoin lets us measure that deflation accurately. Bitcoin reflects deflation in nature.
There’s a distinction to be made between harmful deflation caused by credit collapse (or currency collapse) and beneficial productivity driven deflation. Bitcoin does the latter. Anyways I don’t want to argue. Thanks for expressing your point of view 🫂
Technology does the latter. Bitcoin is the measuring stick. I'm not arguing either. I'm just making a point. Thanks for your input as well. It's important to have these discussions. I've read Saifs books. The standard was the thing that first orange pilled me. You should read Booths.
Just wanted to say that by inflationary vs deflationary all i meant was prices go up with one and down with another Maybe a little loose with the diction, sorry
he is distinguishing deflation by policy..ie removing units from circulation ( which considering btc are lost all the time...it is in practice deflating because of lost keys but not deflating due to policy), vs what you are talking about which is that btc is deflationary relative to other currencies that have inflation via policy. ya?
