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Comment by danbruc | Hacker News Reader

I want people to be precise about what they want so that there is actually something concrete one can discuss without hand-waving all the time. Fixed money supply, for example, does not require any crypto currency, just pass the necessary laws to fix the amount of money at the current level. And we can now think about the consequences of this, for example that it will encourage not spending money.

There are many others.

Which?

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You say that like having fixed-supply money is a trivial factor, when it's actually the central problem with fiat currency and the reason we even need crypto. Giving governments the ability to pass laws to allow an arbitrary amount of fiat to be printed is the problem, because it effectively gives them the power to do what they like with no accountability to their electorate. Having a fixed-supply is not a matter of laws being passed, because in the real world, governments just do not want practical limits to their own spending power. The cycle of governments printing and diluting the currency until financial collapse is literally as old as recorded history.

> Which?

Precious metals, commodities (which is a large enough category in itself).

> just pass the necessary laws to fix the amount of money at the current level

Go ahead and pass the law. I'll wait.

It'll never happen. But let's say for the sake of argument it did. Another law could come along to change it again. Why trust laws and corrupt government officials? They are unnecessary soon-to-be antiquated relics of days when no better option existed.

Precisely. I think it was Warren Buffett who said "show me the incentives and I'll tell you the outcome" or something to that effect. Governments are incentivized to seize as much power as money creation allows them. The only thing that has held them back from constantly brrring the money printer is inflation, as it is obviously bad for winning votes. Interesting to see how the Fed will manage 7.5% inflation by raising rates 0.25% and even then there's a high chance they will U-turn almost immediately. I really wonder what Biden must be thinking about Powell right now.

So you are saying there are incentives for the governments to not print money? What, on the other hand, are the incentives to print money?

The incentives for the government to print money have already been mentioned more than once in this thread.

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