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Comment by cjbgkagh | Hacker News Reader

The fiat money system also operates on faith, but that faith is in the government so by your definition that's ok I guess. It seems that the modern left is adopting the government as their own. Personally, I trust the government about the same amount as I trust big companies, not at all. In my view the current fiat money system is a very old legalized scam around which there is quite a lot of academic contortion and opaque jargon to try to justify its existence - funded by those who benefit from it. Unwinding the scam would be political suicide as it would crush the perceived wealth of the populus.

This is not to say that crypto isn't so infested with scams that they're now inseparable. I spread my trust around thinly across many countries, banks, and financial instruments with very little of it in crypto. My hopes is that crypto will mature and become boring but useful but do believe we're still a long way away from that.

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The fiat money system also operates on faith, but that faith is in the government so by your definition that's ok I guess.

Given a choice between the most stable government on the planet and the scam artists running crypto exchanges --- the choice is a no brainer.

Personally, I trust the government about the same amount as I trust big companies, not at all.

But you trust scam artists running crypto exchanges from undisclosed 3rd world locations?

You're lying to yourself.

I don’t trust crypto either. My wealth and focus are entirely wrapped up in business ventures which are inflation resistant.

Also, the US is not the country it used to be so past performance shouldn’t be as indicative of future performance. Particularly the Nixon depegging (Nixon shock) from gold substantially changed the character of the market and the US economy. It takes a long time for the effects to be felt in full and it’s my position that a lot of the current problems originate from that event.

From an outsider to the US the US does not look stable, quite the opposite. It’s not even an old government.

My wealth and focus are entirely wrapped up in business ventures.

You're lying to yourself when you say you don't trust government.

Your wealth and business ventures are secured by the rule of law --- aka government.

It's a right wing mind virus that entices people to express distrust in government --- as they trust government with everything they do --- and vote for those actively trying to destroy the same trust.

If it makes you feel any better I used to trust the government, I did military software and was quite jingoistic. Peace through superior firepower etc. I figured ‘of course the government is good, people like me are working for them’. Then I got a good look at the realities from the inside, figured they were going to crush the middle class and that if I wished to escape that fate I would have to exit the middle class asap.

When I first heard the term 'fiat money system' I thought it was talking about bitcoin. The value exists because some crypto guy says it exists. That is the very definition of fiat.

After when I was corrected that they were talking about real currency my first thought was oh, this is a grift. Only scammers try to reverse the meaning of words like this.

The term fiat currency predates crypto by a truly substantial amount of time, it describes an idea which is as old as currency. There is no reversal of meaning, fiat is from Latin ‘let it be done’ it’s value is by decree.

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