Inflation And The Future Of Money

The most basic and fundamental rule of economics would probably be the law of supply and demand. If there is less of something, it will cost more to acquire. And if there is more of something, it will cost less to acquire. For example, the Mona Lisa is worth a fortune because there is only one original. If someone, somehow, created a perfect duplicate of the original Mona Lisa so that there were two originals in existence, what would happen to the value of the first? It would drop by 50%, with the new Mona Lisa acquiring 50% of its value.

Well, what happens when a monetary supply, such as dollar bills, is inflated by 100%? There are twice as many dollar bills in existence (twice the supply), so the value (purchasing power) of the dollar bill gets cut in half. Except, it doesn't take a lot of work to print up as many zeros as you need.

Inflation is destruction in that, purchasing power gets siphoned away from productive and trusting people and placed into the pockets of the already-wealthy whom often use their new money to fund wars. Furthermore, inflation is flat out theft if you do not get the consent of an informed victim before you grab their purchasing power from them. Inflation hits hardest those on fixed incomes from retirement funds and the poor. Also, due to recession caused by inflation, companies tend to cut corners on wages more often than other areas.

It's easy for a company to raise wages by less than they should be raised when adjusted for inflation, because most people don't understand or care about how our fiat currency works - as long as they see themselves getting a raise they are satisfied. The free market consistently gets blamed for the effects of inflation, because while wages rise, the prices of bread and gas rise faster. The 'evil ceo' gets blamed, when in reality most of the blame should go to the printers of fiat currency.

Furthermore, infinite money is never enough for the printers of fiat currency. Wouldn't it be nice if the state would simply print up the money you owe them in taxes, instead of shaking the change from your pockets after every workday? The printers can print literally as much as they desire, as much as they could ever need, yet they still insist that you give them the income that you had to work hard to earn. The point is that, since desires are infinite, and fiat currency offers the largest incentive possible, there can be no stopping or slowing the presses. Human greed will inevitably drive inflation into hyperinflation into collapse, over and over again, until we recognize the shell games around us.

There can be no stopping the cycle of inflation outside of the collapse point for the following reason. When you print a bunch of money to spend, it raises the price of all goods and services around you - forever. Long after you're done spending your printed money, you will still have to suffer the effects of inflation (higher prices) for the rest of your life. The more things cost, the more you would need to print, ad infinitum.

So, what kind of money would we see in the future? Money which cannot be inflated - money which cannot be centrally controlled. Money that is digital. A decentralized digital currency.

Decentralization of money is imperative. Without a central control, no one person can control the money supply. This means so many wonderful things at once - for example, no more easy infinite money for warmongering institutions, and no more records and tracking of any person's finances.

Why digital? Several reasons. The money of the future will be improved in every way, including its security. Digital currency could be kept on a hard drive, or a portable pen drive, or on remotely accessed computers. Unlike paper money, gold, and other physical items like jewelry, muggers and 'revenue service' agencies won't be able to take your digital currency - especially if currency transactions take place with futuristic encryption practices. Also, if everything else is being sped up by going digital, you can bet that a futuristic digital currency would be even more efficient and convenient.

Admittedly, it is next to impossible to conceive of a digital currency that is decentralized and also secure from inflation or fraud. But if we understand the qualities of the kind of money that we want, we can eventually create exactly that, given enough time.

What could we do with cheaper electricity? A whole lot more, if we didn't have to worry about buying our electricity from old wasteful and expensive technologies. All that effort could be and would be poured into extra, new ways to raise the quality of life for everyone - improvements to be enjoyed by even the former sellers of high-priced electricity.

Likewise, what could we do with a currency which was 100% free from tampering and control? A whole lot more. If people aren't robbed, they're going to feel more secure and have more incentive to be productive, plus they will also have more money to spend on various luxuries of life. There would be more jobs, more creation of goods and services, and more goods and services being sold.