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130 sats \ 1 reply \ @Storyteller 24 Aug 2023 \ on: A small story about me, my friends, Bitcoin & Maracaibo, Venezuela. bitcoin
Yesterday I talked to a Venezuelan construction worker working for me. I asked him about the Bolivar, how people deal with it, day to day. And about bitcoin.
He knew about bitcoin but he isn’t using it.
Regarding the Bolivar he said. If you paid me in the Bolivar today, I go straight to the supermarket. To buy stuff. Because if I wait for a week, I can buy less.
I said what do you do if you need to save for say a car?
He said: I buy dollars. I save in dollars.
He said look at these bags here of concrete. What is the price? I said about 3 dollars. He said: How long has it been 3 dollars? I said 2/3 years. For ever.
He said : in Venezuela it is not like that. Prices are not stable. It keeps increasing every day. Today it is in Bolivar 3 dollars, tomorrow it is 3.5, next week 5.
You cannot save. You constantly keep thinking about money.
When your money is broken people’s lives are broken.
If you live in a county where the exchange rate is kind of stable you should feel lucky.
But the sad thing is it is not stable. Venezuela is just an extreme case.
The dollar they feel is stable for them is relatively stable. It is stable compared to the Bolivar.
But the dollar is loosing value against food, against gas, against a house. That is called inflation.
The dollar lost thousands of percent in value against the bitcoin in years. How is it possible that something that was invented some 14 years ago is now worth 25-26 thousand dollars. While once it was worth 1 dollar? 26 000 x more value in 14 years. 1857x per year on average.
Most people do not know this is happening to the dollar.
While the Venezuela people are running towards the dollar or USDT as their best life saving raft, whatever they can get on the wild sea of Venezuelan storm, most don’t care that raft is also sinking.
It is sinking less fast than the Venezuelan Bolivar.
With inflation of 7% the USA dollar will sink 50% in 10 years. Rule of 72. You take the 72/7 you get about 10 years.
That is stability. You don’t feel the sinking that quick.
But people also feel there is something going on with the US dollar.
Once you realize that the fiat boat is sinking - USA dollar, Euros, you move to the raft called bitcoin.
I respect the Venezuelan people. They do whatever they can. Binance, whatever. Whatever works.
Then I asked the man: but there are many rich people also. He said yes: there are some people who became super rich in a short period. He didn’t know how?
I still have to understand that. How some people becamea so wealthy.
Probably something to do with money. Because the peopke close to the money printer always become rich at the expense of the other people . If some become extremely poor there will be others at the other side who become extremely rich.
You cannot save. You constantly keep thinking about money.
Well I was able to get out of the country because I was able to save in dollars, at the end, savings = dollars, thats the mentality, I found bitcoin later.
But the sad thing is it is not stable. Venezuela is just an extreme case. The dollar they feel is stable for them is relatively stable. It is stable compared to the Bolivar.
Its stable enough to make a living i think, when you get use to highly inflationary environment. your time preferences get affected, you stop thinking on your retirement because you cannot effort the day before. You start putting more interest in things that give you fast rewards like drinking or partying.
I still have to understand that. How some people became so wealthy.
People with connections with the government, In Venezuela you cannot be rich if you are not with the government. No matter if you are honest, they will come after you if you are rich enough to get noticed.
Also, there is a lot of people who are involved with drugs, people who have a honest business just to wash the money but their real income come from drugs.
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