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Comment by johnny_b_g | Hacker News Reader

>what problem Bitcoin solves (inflation).

Some inflation is fine (some would argue has some value/purpose) - what you don't want is too much inflation, or deflation ("hyper"). But I doubt any cryptocurrencies can truly solve it (Bitcoin least of all).

But what I find fascinating, especially from the Bitcoin crowd, is how they trash all fiat currencies ("because inflation!!"), but still use fiat to compare/set the price of Bitcoin.

Basically, without fiat to give it value, their precious Bitcoin is worthless.

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What country do you live in? Sorry, but for us, Hungarians inflation is devastating. It's the same for people who live in Argentina, Venzeuela and Turkey getting almost the same salaries as last year with prices of basic items going up like crazy. There are new price controls introduced all the time, but it's never enough to not feel poor.

I said some inflation is fine (ie. normal/expected) except hyper inflation/deflation.

What if it isn’t, and the Keynesians were lying to you?

Drinking water is good for you, but drinking too much water will kill you.

I do not think inflation is fine. Advancing technology and improvements in manufacturing should make my money buy more, not less.

This totally ignores the greediness in capitalism, which cryptocurrencies exemplifies (there's no problems they actually solve, except the problem of how to make the rich richer)

Socialist countries and dictatorships also agree with you that inflation is good. It's not a greedy capitalist thing, it's a 'greedy people in charge of the money' thing. Inflation is theft, and the rich protect themselves by buying stuff that basically tracks inflation. The poor get run over.

and it did - for those technologies that became cheaper as a result. For other things that tech didn't increase the supply of, you end up paying more.

If you did not have inflation - or had deflation even, like in the case of bitcoin - everything would "become cheaper", but it would make certain types of goods/services scarcer (since they'd be paid less and less for doing the same labour due to the deflation, and so would choose to stop doing it at some point).

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