Image: Bitcoin Andy Warhol Style, 2017 by Thomas Hussung & Nicholas Miller

Are you unhappy with how the world is run? It’s obvious the world is not fair (and a fallacy to think that it is). The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the vast majority of people everywhere are being exploited.

What can you do about it? Vote? That’s what I’ve been told to do all my adult life and it hasn’t achieved any meaningful thing.

Not only does government overtax us; they waste the money that is ‘collected’. There’s not enough scope here to go into the details of the enormous malinvestment that occurs. I will say, however, that malinvestment by government causes severe disruption of the free market, which is very damaging to our lives in ways we can’t often immediately see or comprehend. How is this is possible? Because government exists and operates outside of the free market.

Again, how?

The Government has Access to Unlimited “free” Money. 🏦

By spending on things without considering the opportunity cost of easy money and its consequences (because the money issued is essentially created for “free”), then real markets don’t – indeed, can’t – develop. Government is incentivised to do this, because the more they spend, the more votes they can “buy” from citizens, and thus stay in power. What is the inevitable result of such an incentive structure? Ultimately, we end up with a centrally planned economy akin to communism. On the surface, central planning may look like it works, but, look deeper. Central planning operates nowhere as well as a true, open and free market. What happens, instead, is that the economy and the society which operates on top gets run into the ground, gradually then suddenly. There are countless examples of this all around the world. Another tragedy is that all this malinvestment inherently favours the wealthy, particularly banks.

You can follow the rabbit down this particular hole by studying Austrian Economics – where it is not a given that money should be centrally planned, socialist style, by the government. That’s a total opposite view of what is taught in government funded universities and by traditional economics professors. Austrian Economics, the truth, has been silenced. You can find it if you look. A good place to start is by reading Robert Murphy’s book, “Choice”.

For example: In 2008, there was the Great Financial Collapse, which, in summary, was caused by banks (Watch the movie, The Big Short, for an entertaining near-true account of the whole thing). Banks took outrageous risks with other peoples’ money for their own profit, and in 2008 were on the brink of total collapse. Instead, the government bailed them out with their unlimited “free” money, and gave it straight to the banks – no (real) questions asked. The banks did nothing to earn this money (nor did the government/central bank for that matter), and they were under no obligation to pay any of it back. What’s more, only one person went to jail!

Where Does the Money Come From? 💸

So where does the government/central bank get their money from? And if the money is created at all but zero cost (i.e. free), what’s wrong with helping the banks to prevent financial collapse of the whole system?

Well, because the money that’s printed out of thin air (so to speak) is not really free. It’s our money…

Wait. How can it be our money if it was created out of nothing? 

Inflation. Anyone who has ever traded their time and energy for money lost (so, everyone who works, basically). In a world with a limitless supply of money tethered to limited resources, the resources must cost more – it’s basic arithmetic. Over time one dollar buys less and less, so the money you earn from rour wages buys less and less, so too does any savings you might have accumulated. Assets may appear go up in price (in-fact, it’s the dollar going down), but even that nominal price-increase is taxed (via capital gains tax), which makes it very difficult to keep up with the slow declining value of a dollar which constitutes the money we are coerced to use by taxation laws. 

Printing money is basically a way for governments to tax its citizens indirectly. So that, in the end, after the GFC, we – in effect –  gave our money away to the failing banks and the people who ran them.

How do we stop this from happening? By voting? No…

The Answer is Bitcoin 🔶

Bitcoin has many important properties, but what’s relevant in this discussion is that nobody controls Bitcoin. Nobody can create any amount out of thin air at zero cost and hand it to whomever they like, including the banks. There will only be 21 million Bitcoin that will ever be created (by deploying a real world resource – energy – rather than the incentive structure of politician’s promise or central banker’s notion).

How do we get from here to there – to a reality where Bitcoin becomes the world’s money? You’ve got to want it. Everyone has got to want it. Espeically those who would prefer to accept it as a means or method of payment. Right now, we’re a long way off that, which is why the price (conversion from fiat money to Bitcoin) appears so highly volatile. But gradually, over time, more and more people will inevitably decide to accept, accumulate, and save in Bitcoin. 

This helps salability; meaning, when you acquire Bitcoin, other people are also acquiring Bitcoin, which increases your confidence in being able to earn and spend in Bitcoin. This helps to create a positive feedback loop which gains in momentum until its network effects become unstoppable. No other competition for what constitutes money is possible, because there is no other money in existence that is:

• Fair
• Digital
• Scarce
• and not unilaterally controllable by any person or group.

On a long enough time scale, sound money always wins, for those who prefer the above characteristics of their money, almost never change their mind by settling in something inferior. Imagine selling seashells for glass beads, or silver for gold. No sane person would ever do such a thing. And this sane group of people has been growing since Jan 3, 2009.

By accumulating and saving in fair money, Bitcoiner’ also vote with their feet – or their wallet so to speak. Buying Bitcoin is a far more effective protest against the current system than waving placards at police. How? Because their accumulation of Bitcoin, of sats, brings forward the day that Bitcoin, as the 21st Century’s monetary system, succeeds.

Bitcoin is the Only Protest 🪧

If everyone in the world begins using this fair, equitable, and incorruptible money, then those in power can not simply spend it without regard to the economic realities of the day. In order to fund some objective, some project, or some promise, they must directly tax their citizens, instead. If new stadiums are promised, or worse, if a war starts, then the cost of these things must be considered. Funds must be taken or taxed voluntarily from citizens earning, spending, and saving in Bitcoin. And this, of course, is much more unpopular than simply silently taxing them via the disease of inflation (printing money). Moreover, the fractional reserve system of lending will no longer be possible. Banks, instead of creating money out of thin air electronically every time a loan is offered, must instead, lend out actual collateral or savings they hold – denominated, of course, in Bitcoin.

And so, economic reality will be restored. You only need to want it.

Join the most effective protest there is. Buy Bitcoin and HODL HARD ✊💎🔶.

Do you want to learn more about how you can use Bitcoin as the most potent form of protest of the inequalities of the current economic system? Amber makes it easy for you to start sacking sats in minutes. Check out our Guide to Investing with Bitcoin and Bitcoin glossary. And if you’re ready to get started, download Amber to make your first Bitcoin purchase in under 90 seconds.

READ MORE: Making the case for Bitcoin’s inevitably and lack of competition (Arman the Parman).

🔸🕳🐇

*This is a guest post. Opinions expressed are entirely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Amber or Amber Labs Pty. Ltd.