How much is a bit worth?

[Seth]

How much would you have to pay someone with the necessary drill bit to do the job for you?

At the moment you need 307.56 Australian dollars to buy one bitcoin. 18 months ago you had to spend $1350 for it.

And tomorrow it might be worth $0.00.

Bitcoin is a crock. It's not tangible itself and it's not tied to anything tangible that controls its value and it's way to volatile to be a useful medium of exchange. Might be fun for speculators though.

[cronus]

How much would you have to pay someone with the necessary drill bit to do the job for you?

At the moment you need 307.56 Australian dollars to buy one bitcoin. 18 months ago you had to spend $1350 for it.

And tomorrow it might be worth $0.00.

Bitcoin is a crock. It's not tangible itself and it's not tied to anything tangible that controls its value and it's way to volatile to be a useful medium of exchange. Might be fun for speculators though.

Seth, you are beginning to sound like the materialist, with all that entails, I always suspected given your bizarre stereotypical reasoning....

[Seth]

How much would you have to pay someone with the necessary drill bit to do the job for you?

At the moment you need 307.56 Australian dollars to buy one bitcoin. 18 months ago you had to spend $1350 for it.

And tomorrow it might be worth $0.00.

Bitcoin is a crock. It's not tangible itself and it's not tied to anything tangible that controls its value and it's way to volatile to be a useful medium of exchange. Might be fun for speculators though.

Seth, you are beginning to sound like the materialist, with all that entails, I always suspected given your bizarre stereotypical reasoning....

Not really. Bitcoin is problematic because its basic premise, which is that the pool of bitcoin is limited, is simply not the case. There is no way to ensure that the bitcoin pool will remain limited and will be controlled to the extent that counterfeiting and fraud are not possible. It's similar to the problem with all fiat currency, including the US dollar, that is not tied to an actual tangible commodity. If the government needs more money, all it has to do is print more bills. Likewise, if the Lords of Bitcoin want to make more money, they only need to make more bitcoin, and there's really no way for the individual to know how much bitcoin there is or will be in the future because the entire system is so grey that there can be no trust. And that was made obvious by the collapse of one of the bitcoin banks where who knows how much value simply disappeared in the blink of an eye, alleged to have been "stolen." More likely it was absconded with, turned into cash or hard currency (gold) and everybody who thought they could trust the depository is just completely fucked.

The same risk applies to all fiat currencies, including the US dollar. There are grave suspicions that America's gold reserves, held at Fort Knox, are actually missing and have been covertly sold off to fund government without telling anyone. The government refuses to allow public officials to inspect the gold reserves to see if they still exist, which makes me all the more suspicious.

The problem with bitcoin is that you don't have to haul tons of it from a vault, where someone can go in and count the bars during an audit, it can be stolen with the press of a key and no trace of it remains.

Bitcoin is built on trust, and so far it's been demonstrated that there is no reason at all to trust those in charge of the bitcoin pool.

[cronus]

It's like a dollar but with more credibility.....then? In God we Trust the love of money is the root of all evil....

[Seth]

It's like a dollar but with more credibility.....then? In God we Trust the love of money is the root of all evil....

Less credibility. Far less. Nobody even knows who is issuing bitcoin. At least we have the reputation of the United States for fulfilling it's financial obligations with the dollar, which is why it's still the world's currency standard...for now.

[cronus]

It's like a dollar but with more credibility.....then? In God we Trust the love of money is the root of all evil....

Less credibility. Far less. Nobody even knows who is issuing bitcoin. At least we have the reputation of the United States for fulfilling it's financial obligations with the dollar, which is why it's still the world's currency standard...for now.

The bit coin makes it anyones world...the dollar demise and afterwards will make it someones world. Make the intelligent choice child, don't behave like a peasant in a field.

[Seth]

It's like a dollar but with more credibility.....then? In God we Trust the love of money is the root of all evil....

Less credibility. Far less. Nobody even knows who is issuing bitcoin. At least we have the reputation of the United States for fulfilling it's financial obligations with the dollar, which is why it's still the world's currency standard...for now.

The bit coin makes it anyones world...the dollar demise and afterwards will make it someones world. Make the intelligent choice child, don't behave like a peasant in a field.

Bitcoin makes it no one's world. What might emerge as a relatively stable currency if the dollar tanks is anybody's guess. Right now China is angling to become the standard.

If things really go to shit, barter and trade will take over and bullets and bacon will become the currency.

[pErvinalia]

Mmmmm.... bacon...

[JimC]

It's a case of the biter bit...

[Seth]

I paid $19.85 and some blood for a router bit that just bit the shit out of my thumb.

Note to self: Wait till the motor stops spinning before reaching for the bit.

[pErvinalia]

It's like a dollar but with more credibility.....then? In God we Trust the love of money is the root of all evil....

Less credibility. Far less. Nobody even knows who is issuing bitcoin. At least we have the reputation of the United States for fulfilling it's financial obligations with the dollar, which is why it's still the world's currency standard...for now.

I thought the US was run by Marxists?

(see, that's a case of me using logic and reasoning to ridicule your simple arguments.)

[cronus]

Everyone wants the simple ideological conflict of a simpler time back now crisis is inevitable....sorry it's gonna be hell. The prospect is good for doom-mongers like me for years....to come.

[Seth]

It's like a dollar but with more credibility.....then? In God we Trust the love of money is the root of all evil....

Less credibility. Far less. Nobody even knows who is issuing bitcoin. At least we have the reputation of the United States for fulfilling it's financial obligations with the dollar, which is why it's still the world's currency standard...for now.

I thought the US was run by Marxists?

(see, that's a case of me using logic and reasoning to ridicule your simple arguments.)

Doesn't mean it's not paying its bills...to other people...while racking up something like a hundred grand in debt for every person in the country. The good news is I'll be dead by the time they try to collect it. Paid my income taxes yesterday, only cost me $210 because of all the mileage deductions for Uber.

[Brian Peacock]

That massive US debt was legislated for by Bush when the unsecuted loan markets when down. Proposed on the Friday night and passed into law on the Monday. The UK's bank bailout was similarly rushed through. Advisors in subsequent administrations have deepened nation debts by backing the continued underwriting of more bad debt, which the banks love because they still turn a healthy dividend and don't have much pressure to play safe or offer competitive savings rates etc. The whole 'to big to fail' narrative virtually guarantees that the moving of public money into a sector with a track record of failure will continue for some time to come.

The US doesn't have to worry too much about its mounting debt while oil transactions are in USD. People are always going to need dollars to buy that necessary if finite resource.