Bitcoiners absolutely suck at understanding money, banking, or the economy (#737272).
(Then again, so do just about everyone else, based plebs and clueless Karens alike... Bitcoiners might be worse off since them moving up the Dunning-Krueger curve doesn't impress anyone... #1516456 #1015955... also, some recently enobled royalties trying to fork Bitcoin are doing this too: #1525907)

"there is a second aspect to today’s imbalances that is rarely discussed: the size of global finance relative to the 'real' economy.""there is a second aspect to today’s imbalances that is rarely discussed: the size of global finance relative to the 'real' economy."

Financialization is not a force for good. #1291642 To be crude, it's moving paper and liabilities around instead of real goods and services; more imaginary than proper; more fragile than robust. @BlokchainB and other suitcoiners can't grasp that, their vision literally blinded by all the fake treasury company paper (gainz?!) in their permissioned portfolios. #1531037

This has fascinated me since I interviewed an Islamic finance scholar in 2007 who likened modern markets to a candyfloss machine. The reason? Real assets — like houses — were being used to secure debt that was then rehypothecated multiple times, partly with derivatives, just as sugar is spun and respun into candy floss. That financial cloud looked impressive. But, like candyfloss, the value of its “real” assets was small — as we discovered when finance imploded.

The McKinsey Global Institute has just published a fascinating balance sheet estimate of the world’s assets, liabilities and wealth. This series, which started in 2021, is unusual in measuring both public and private assets. In 2025 this balance sheet was apparently $1.8 quadrillion, a record $100tn higher than in 2024 (global GDP was $117tn.) This nominal figure included $620tn of “real” assets (real estate, infrastructure, machinery and equipment and intellectual property), $550tn of financial assets (equity, loans, bonds and currency), balanced by $600tn of global wealth, overwhelmingly owned by households.

"the details are even more so: global household wealth has risen more than fourfold since 2000, dramatically faster than the “real” economy, amid asset-price inflation.""the details are even more so: global household wealth has risen more than fourfold since 2000, dramatically faster than the “real” economy, amid asset-price inflation."

...average take-home pay is flat but home prices are soaring, that means that homes are debt not assets

"US asset prices are now 3.7 times GDP — double the historic average.""US asset prices are now 3.7 times GDP — double the historic average."

Paper bitcoin summer, anyone? Same (mind) virus infected and infested the rest of the overfinancialized economy? #1217842

many economists consider some financialisation to be good. The IMF, for example, has long urged poor countries to embrace financial deepening to boost their growth. Under that logic, the swelling size of US capital markets might be seen as evidence of economic sophistication and strength.

Nobody would be shocked to learn that maybe, just maybe, the overpaid talking heads at the IMF are... eeeh... mistaken?

Another danger, says the IMF, is that rising long-term interest rates could spark a sovereign debt crunch or prompt governments either to inflate their way out of the debt or to restructure it (unless that AI miracle occurs). [...] For better or worse, our 21st-century world seems addicted to financial candyfloss, not least because it makes the rich feel ever richer.

"there is a more subtle philosophical issue: as my colleague Rana Foroohar has noted, financialisation turns humans from “makers” (of real products) into “takers” (of financial value).""there is a more subtle philosophical issue: as my colleague Rana Foroohar has noted, financialisation turns humans from “makers” (of real products) into “takers” (of financial value)."

TLDR, it's all just paper.

archive: https://archive.md/BHvkb