Quote from: smoothie on December 18, 2014, 09:43:13 PM

Quote from: NotLambchop on December 18, 2014, 12:58:46 PM

Quote from: interlagos on December 17, 2014, 11:14:36 PM

Quote from: NotLambchop on December 17, 2014, 10:31:20 PM

Quote from: interlagos on December 17, 2014, 10:20:18 PM

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There is no tax, just a distribution of coins. If 10% of new coins being emitted per year, then rougly the same amount of money will be spent mining them. The same goes for 5%, 2% of the market cap and so on. Money in, money out - no tax!

Call it "service fee" or "inflation," call it whatever you want, but ~10% of Bitcoin's market cap will be spent every year to maintain current level of security. For now inflation is footing the bill, but once block reward halves, either security will suffer, or tx fees go way up.

If Bitcoin stays relevant in the future there will always be a competition for "conquering" its algorithm. I can't say whether it will cost 10% of its market cap or not. But I can say for sure that those engaging in this voluntary competition will be getting something out of it - be it profit in the form of transaction fees or some other agendas. The algorithm really doesn't care about people's nationality, political or religious views, their skin or eye color. It simply says "here I am out in the open, make me run faster and you win!".

I'm not suggesting that the Bitcoin's algorithm is racist, merely that it is horribly wasteful (roughly 14% of all BTC in existence was mined over the past year, i.e. 14% of Bitcoin's market cap was spent on network maintenance/security). And these costs do not translate into jobs, but mind boggling amounts of burnt energy.
Bitcoin utopia:

Quote

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If there is a better way to organize a neutral global money system, we should have it penned here and get a nobel prize in economics.

Yes, there is, already exists--the current fiat system.
Imposing limitations like "It has to be trustless, decentralized, and it's name must start with the letter 'B'" is a bit Goldbergian.

Bitcoin's overhead costs to operate the network is nothing compared to the cost to run the current bullshit fiat system.

Current fiat system costs:

1. Thousands of locations
2. Millions of computers
3. Billions spent on electricity
4. Security (technological/human)
5. General operational employees

just to name a few....

Those costs are easily in the 100's of billions of dollars.

No comparison to bitcoin.

You forgot endless market manipulation to suppress alternative currencies, endless wars to keep the petrodollar going, endless media manipulation to keep the sheep thinking good banker friendly thoughts, endless police state to keep the rest of the people in line, and endkess political bribing to keep the law stacked against us. All in all this system costs trillions not to mention hundreds of thousands of lives and the sacrificing of freedoms

Did I leave anything out??