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0 sats \ 18 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 1 Oct \ parent \ on: What do outsiders understand about Bitcoin better than Bitcoiners? AskSN
You could be right- Chinas approach to empire could be quite different to that the west has taken.
They are perhaps much more focused on trade and wealth creation than spreading their ideology, religion, culture and language.
English could well remain the main language of business even with China dominating global trade.
However people naturally gravitate toward the most prosperous culture as people naturally seek wealth...this is why many people globally have sought to learn English over the past centuries since The British Empire (and then US)came to dominate the global economy.
Today China dominates the global economy.
The point I would make regarding many Bitcoiners however is an exceptional arrogance and assumption that USA will remain the dominant culture and economy when it looks from where I stand that USA is in serious decline as a global super power while China appears to be on the rise.
Bitcoin could end up being a neutral safe haven refuge into which western capital flees as Chinese wealth comes to dominate global banking and finance...similar to how British elites established multiple offshore tax havens as they declined.
I agree that USA has a lot of arrogance as a country and culture while china is more humble. But on the culture side, USA has no idea of how important cultivating virtues are. Europe with all its problem still is the biggest source of philosophy ideas and closest to the truth in many areas. If this whole world fiat confusion comes to a halt, the place I would be would flourish the most is Europe. An example of that may simply be things like btcmap.org, europe has the most node runners and tons of nerds self-hosting a lot of other stuff.
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Yes Europe is more cultured than US but China has a stronger productive economy and unity in terms of power projection.
Europe has been militarily and monetarily subservient to the US fore decades.
Europe lacks unity and sense of purpose despite its rich history.
China has a deep sense of being the centre of the world which could be seen by some as arrogance but they have in recent decades been humble while building their wealth and power.
For China to reverse engineer the wests monetary hegemony is I believe already underway and quite openly declared as one of their primary intentions.
Europe is mired in diversity of culture and lacks cohesion required to exert significant power projection.
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China companies are not profitable and rely on huge subsidies when not not even the companies have the state as a shareholder which is the case in many. When fiat fades away and clean all the malinvestments we will know how real and big the chinese economy really is. Real economy is where there is freedom to exist family business and make profit, a lot of profit.
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China operates a One Trillion Dollar annual trade surplus.
The Chinese government operates many of the key strategic companies such as power generation, rail, communications and heavy industry and generates huge revenue while supplying the raw inputs to the competitive sectors at lower cost than any other nation can.
Try running a cartel or monopoly in China and you will be crushed- ask Jack Ma.
USA and Europe have operated trade deficits for decades and are in chronic societal and economic decline.
Their governments are owned by corporate sponsors.
In the west capital directs governments.
In China the government directs (big and strategic) capital.
As a result China is winning the trade war.
They can and did allocate the capital to corning the market in rare earth refining.
Now Trump must beg on his knees for the rare earths US military and manufacturing need.
While I agree BTC gives a free market in capital I think you underestimate the significance of state directed capital allocation when it comes to power projection and international competitiveness.
There is no 'free enterprise' without the provision of property rights and security which only government can provide.
The many bad governments do not negate the importance of the role of government in the wealth of nations.
There has never been a wealthy nation without the government playing a major and significant role in that wealth.
Chinas government, composed of 80% trained engineers) is simply more focused and motivated than the corrupt corporate captured crony capitalism governments of the west.
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It is true we cannot know what the future will deliver...but we can learn from history what is probable and in learning that we can understand the historical significance of the role of governments in the wealth of nations...and why they are significant.
Unless something substantial about human nature, economies and politics changes that would logically suggest a change in this historical fact we can avoid the folly of some of the more absurd and deluded assertions of Libertarian ideologs.
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I look forward to you going off somewhere and enjoying your Libertarian utopia without any government stealing from you, just leave me out of it...I rather retain the common good consensus, infrastructure, rule of law, security and wealth that only governments can provision.
Enjoy your cave dwelling, hunter gatherer life expectancy ~ 35?