We can all talk about the technology, the decentralized aspect, that it is non-inflationary, that you control it. There are plenty of reasons to talk up crypto, but, these quotes below are why crypto is here and is staying around. This is why people will walk away from the currencies of their countries (or at least hedge against them) that have been around for decades and centuries for something that is new, and in all honesty, risky.
You can read article after article on here about why people buy crypto, but, this quote right here is the real reason people are in it:
The federal government can afford anything that it feels it needs to do.
This quote is from John Yarmuth, and in context, he is saying that the United States government can do anything it wants, provide any service it wants, create any entitlement it wants because it can simply print the money it needs to do these things. He goes so far as to say that unlike individuals that have to budget and only spend what they have or face consequences, the government it not bound by this.
So wait, who is John Yarmuth and why do we care, is he just some talking head? Nope, he is the House Budget Committee Chairman. One of the most powerful people in finance in the US government.
There is more, this is from Janet Yellen, the US Treasury Secretary:
I believe it’s very disruptive to put the president and myself, the Treasury secretary, in a situation where we might be unable to pay the bills that result from those past decisions.
While, she didn’t put into a neat little quote, the context of her comments was that if congress spends money, she should be able to cover the cost of that spending with no limitations. When asked directly about this, she said this is exactly what she means.
I know people are out there saying that government should provide “basic” services and that people deserve a minimum standard of life. Fine, that is another argument and if the majority is in favor of this, we can discuss what those services include and how they are funded. That is not my point on this. My point is that taking away any oversight on how much money is spent by a government (who does not make any money, it is either taken from its citizens, or borrowed against its citizens) never works out.
When I say it never works out, I am not just saying that as an opinion. When countries blow up their spending that is paid for with debt, it goes south. Maybe not overnight, but it always snowballs eventually and turns out bad. If I am wrong, please show me a time where it didn’t happen. (If you want to see some of the more extreme cases where it did, Google Zimbabwe Inflation or Germany Inflation. I may write on these at some point)
Back to the quotes above. If you think people are not shaken by two of the highest people in government deciding monetary decisions saying we should remove the debt ceiling and spend whatever we want because we have the power to print money, then you probably don’t get why crypto is out there and not going away.
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One of the reasons people buy crypto is because it is easy to move and carry about and also because you can be anonymous.