Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: = Grand Unified Solution to Lost Coins, Hoarding, Deflation, Speculation =
by
kjj
on 15/04/2013, 11:42:16 UTC
Now let me address another point that opponents of demurrage often raise.  The desire to store value without loss, they point to this desire as a justification for a money system that will allow savings without cost (like Gold or BTC).  But they rarely ask how this is done in a money system when the 'value' of money is all out their in the real world in the goods and services that the money is competing for.  When they do it usually consists of "well I did not spend my income, thus I consumed less now, entitling me to consume more later".  A bit deeper but your now fully dependent on the marketplace to due two things, first it needs to accommodate your non-consumption (you basically reduced money supply) and then it needs to accommodate your increased consumption later in which you reintroduce your money (expanding money supply).  So the marketplace is doing you a service when you use money in this way, and what are you paying the marketplace for this service?

This is a common claim that looters like to make to justify their theft.

It turns out to be exactly 180 degrees from truth.  The reality is that savers are doing a service for the market, not the other way around.  By deferring consumption, you are allowing the market to invest the resources that you would have consumed in the construction of new productive assets.  Growing the productive base is a good thing, and should be rewarded.