Bitcoin is a fundamentally different economic system from that of the Keynesian world we're used to.
Economists (with no difference in opinion based on school of thought) agree that even though the current system sees a series of debt bubbles, the productivity line continues to increase without much variation in its course.
Now differences of opinion. The Keynesian will argue that because productivity doesn't move much, to prevent deflation, inflation is neccesary in order to keep prices the same. They also argue that this central management of the currency helps with stability.
The sound money enthusiast would ponder, what if prices did go down, rather than staying the same as people become more productive? Then, helping people be productive, which will cause prices to fall, is a method for investment as the money becomes more valuable (able to buy more things with less). Then, investing in people is investing in general.
Under the current system, there is no reason to invest in people. If you were to say pick up a homeless man, dress him and give him a place to sleep, then teach him a skill with which he can be a productive member of society, teaching a man to fish vs giving a man a fish, what exactly is the return on your investment? I can feel myself being scolded already, "The return on your investment should be that you've helped another human being". Really? Someone who has put all of that time and all of those resources that could have been used to enrich themselves, to increase their own productivity, to support their own children, to support themselves, has instead been heavily invested in someone who has been failed by their family, of whom only parents can really claim a reward of the "legacy" sort, and yet in spite of all of this the investor is just meant to be happy about it? "Show me the incentives and I'll show you the outcome" -Charlie Munger.
That being said, people do still run charities, but despite their contribution to society in making society more productive, they struggle with resources to continue running.
With sound money, the return would be that your money can now buy more than before.
Maybe Bitcoin Beach is the first organization to discover this: https://galoy.io/bitcoin-banking-for-communities-lessons-learned-from-el-zonte/
I think more work needs to be done to make this thesis concrete, but this is my first draft, and I appreciate your mental capacity being used to make me more productive via well structured critiques and improvement suggestions.
I am very interested in bitcoin charity, and I like your analysis of tangible, quantifiable benefits to an economy beyond just "doing the right thing". I have been looking at the idea of bitcoin charities from the perspective of helping the needy to both benefit these people and to increase bitcoin adoption. Bitcoin itself is more efficient at providing direct benefit without unnecessary red tape and no involvement from banks or governments.
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Obligatory "Get involved with your community today!"
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Some research I'm doing on how volunteerism impacts the productivity curve
It will take some time for me to fully mature and develop this thesis on how volunteering and generally putting time into people or building people up can be a selfish act that merely necessitates benefitting others.
I'm also thinking of a quip to introduce the idea. "Pump your bags by building people up" lol something like that.
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