On Money #It'sOn

I was watching one of my favorite podcasts called "What is Money?" This episode happened to be a compilation one, whereby Robert, a man after my own heart, puts together snippets from past shows as he talks to guests about money.

One thing is clear. Robert Breedlove is unbearably handsome. This is important for me to say because when I first started watching this podcast, I was on a quest to better understand money and what I missed. Each year, I created our family budget, I tracked down cost, called companies to reduce our bills but for some reason, we couldn't get ahead in life. The only sure thing was that I was getting deeper and deeper in debt, when my expressed goal was to get out of debt. I would fantasize about the day when I paid all my debt down so I can finally sleep at night. I coined the phrase my "leased life" since all my belongings were on "layaway."

We were renting an apartment not owning a house. Our cars were new but leased. We had clothes on our back and food on the table, but mounting credit card bills. My then husband and I had good jobs but couldn't afford "real life." A life that was afforded human dignity. We might as well have been indentured servants, living in the British Empire, not America the Beautiful.

At the time, I started watching alternative media to address health issues and learned so much about what was wrong with the conventional healthcare system. More on that later. I decided to address money next. Incidentally, just the other day, I pitched an idea to Robert in my head, to create a podcast on "What is Family?" And that's why Robert is like family to me, even though we’ve never met.

But I digress. In this episode, he has a clip of a gold bug who does not understand the case for Bitcoin. She doesn't understand the value of a money that does not have utility, as she puts it. Robert struggles to understand her reasoning. She has identified the problem correctly, like most gold bugs, but why does she not get that Bitcoin is the answer. Then he asks the QUESTION? How do you define utility? That's it! Words matter. Robert gets it and it is as if he can read my brain. It's uncanny! How does he do that?

People waste so much time talking past each other because they mean "x" and the person hears "y." She explains that gold has other uses such as manufacturing, dentistry, jewelry and such. She says, Bitcoin is not real because it is not physical, therefore it does not have value. And that's when it hits me. She doesn't understand that digital entities are real. Very real. I start imagining cryptographic keys in my head and the security they provide. How can that not be real?

I started "conversing"'with Robert in my head. Doesn't she know that life is ephermeal?  Does she not know that physical matter poses a false sense of security? I propose to Robert that I write a post on money and weave in the philosophical idea of the tenuous nature of life with the idea that money having to be physical being a red herring. If anything, the mere fact that Robert is having a conversation with her across space and time, both existing in different locations proves the value of digital solutions that have become indispensable, and power our modern world.

Robert goes easy on her. He doesn't go for the hard sell of Bitcoin. I  am humbled by the way Bitcoiners are not pushy when orange pilling non-Bitcoin believers. Marty Bent is similar in his approach, a cool cucumber. I am not like that; I am full on. I wish I could be that cool.

For a long time, I worried about whether I watched that podcast because I was attracted to Robert since I am red-blooded woman with a healthy endocrine system (RIP David Foster Wallace) or if it was because I truly wanted to understand money. I dedicated a fair amount of brain power to this question. In the end, I deduced that I am genuine in my intentions about understanding money. I find myself often thinking along similar lines, if not the same thoughts as Robert, as I mentioned. He intellectualizes everything, even love. He introduced me to the idea of love coming in three forms, eros, agape and philia.  As someone who struggles with love, it is comforting to find another who uses the consolation of philosophy to survive heartache. I favor Schopenhauer myself.

To me, Robert is a "brother in arms." We are both navigating the dirty waters of life (RIP David Foster Wallace) trying to use our brains to live La Dolce Vita. He is not an object of my affection, he is a life line. I need to find freedom. For that, I need security and money. Bitcoin is the ultimate secure money. There is no second best. Thank you, Robert Breedlove.