Energy is a terrible medium for money. It’s not at all durable and it is intangible, which makes “holding” it impossible for the average investor and therefore easier to fake, much worse than PM exchanges.
I'm not sure petroleum became money. It's a scarce commodity that happens to store energy, so it could serve, I suppose. But the deal Kissinger made did something else: it made demand for dollars — already rising — so strong that the Fed could print all the currency units it wanted while foreigners absorbed them, parking the dollars in reserves and Treasuries instead of bidding up prices at home. Absent that, prices would have risen faster than Americans would tolerate, and we might have rebelled.
It's been a good scam. The whole appeal was spending without the bill arriving. The US exports dollars that take no effort to create and gets back goods and commodities that do. The inflation still hurt us, just less than it would have otherwise. The deeper hurt is what the free money bought: wars, welfare dependency, and an ever-more-oppressive regulatory state. What should be a bankrupt government is instead a powerful one.
Counterfeiting the currency so undermines society that for millennia, it was a capital offense. Now central banks do it daily. Bummer...
Joe-- I assume you are referring to how Bitcoin uses energy. If you read past that paragraph, you will see that I don't see how energy will or should be "money."
CAN ENERGY BECOME MONEY?
OF COURSE IT CAN.
SEX POWER MONEY ENERGY
ALL ARE QUASI FUNGIBLE AND EASILY EXCHANGEABLE.
AND, TIME IS IS ALL THAT WE HAVE IN LIFE.
SINCERELY, LIAM OF KIAMS LADDER
Energy is a terrible medium for money. It’s not at all durable and it is intangible, which makes “holding” it impossible for the average investor and therefore easier to fake, much worse than PM exchanges.
Great read, makes sense. I have pondered this before.
Hasn’t the “Petrodollar” been somewhat of an example of this? Had it been used responsibly I mean.
I'm not sure petroleum became money. It's a scarce commodity that happens to store energy, so it could serve, I suppose. But the deal Kissinger made did something else: it made demand for dollars — already rising — so strong that the Fed could print all the currency units it wanted while foreigners absorbed them, parking the dollars in reserves and Treasuries instead of bidding up prices at home. Absent that, prices would have risen faster than Americans would tolerate, and we might have rebelled.
It's been a good scam. The whole appeal was spending without the bill arriving. The US exports dollars that take no effort to create and gets back goods and commodities that do. The inflation still hurt us, just less than it would have otherwise. The deeper hurt is what the free money bought: wars, welfare dependency, and an ever-more-oppressive regulatory state. What should be a bankrupt government is instead a powerful one.
Counterfeiting the currency so undermines society that for millennia, it was a capital offense. Now central banks do it daily. Bummer...
Excellent logic, history, and conclusion.
Bull. Wasting energy in an economy that needs it desperately is a total moronic store of value
Joe-- I assume you are referring to how Bitcoin uses energy. If you read past that paragraph, you will see that I don't see how energy will or should be "money."