What conventional wisdom does Bitcoin break?
5601 sats \ 29 comments \ @birdeye21 8 Dec 2023 bitcoin
"You get what you pay for"
This phrase currently exists in a paradigm defined by ever-increasing prices, creating the false illusion that:
more expensive = better
But how does this phrase still hold its weight on a Bitcoin standard? From a broader perspective, with ever-decreasing prices, how will we dictate quality as nicer and nicer things become increasingly attainable?
What's exciting to think about with Bitcoin is that with hyperbitcoinization, manufacturers of all sorts of goods will eventually be disincentivized to produce "cheap" or "bad quality" stuff.
Sure there will always be ranges of quality in products, but for example, let me invoke seed oils for a moment.
The main reason why 90% of grocery store food contains them: $$$. Very cheap to produce, and it "works". On a Bitcoin standard, however, and with enough time, better quality items should eventually become cheap enough to disincentivize the market from producing shitty seed oil products in the first place. I'm not saying that junk food will phase out of existence, but psychologically, we'll do a better job of recognizing it as that, and the market will shift accordingly.
Am I crazy here? Do you agree?
What other conventional wisdom goes out the door thanks to Bitcoin?
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883 sats \ 7 replies \ @DarthCoin 8 Dec 2023
manufacturers of all sorts of goods will eventually be disincentivized to produce "cheap" or "bad quality" stuff.
I came to same conclusion after many years already living in the Bitcoin standard (using only BTC as money).
I will give you an example: Some years ago I convinced a local farmer to sell me fruits and vegetables he produce for sats. All good, he always deliver to me and I pay in sats. But I notice one thing: in time, he send me better and better quality of produce. And I asked him: how so? you did something to your farm or what? His answer was short and dry: you pay in bitcoin, you deserve better. The fiaters get the shit...
I was speechless...
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199 sats \ 2 replies \ @Natalia 8 Dec 2023
you pay in bitcoin, you deserve better.
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222 sats \ 1 reply \ @Natalia 8 Dec 2023
it's funny to think, when you eat better food, drink cleaner water and use more and more of your brain when many people eat junk and read trash or use shitgpt, then everything adds up! it's like you keep building up your advantages.
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233 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 8 Dec 2023
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42 sats \ 0 replies \ @nullama 9 Dec 2023
wow, that's a great story.
The future really is here already, just not distributed uniformly...
That's a glance of the future.
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51 sats \ 0 replies \ @Zepasta 8 Dec 2023
The fiaters get the shit...
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @hasherstacker 8 Dec 2023
Very impressive!
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 8 Dec 2023
fkn amazing hahaha
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254 sats \ 5 replies \ @pillar 8 Dec 2023
That taking debt is a bad financial decision.
In the fiat game, the right kind of debt, for the right purpose, is key to success financially.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nullama 9 Dec 2023
Credit Card debt is horrible, whereas a home loan is great.
Debt is a tool, it can be used to waste money or to acquire assets.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @usagi 8 Dec 2023
I remember reading about Apple issuing massive amounts of debt to fund dividends and buybacks when it was sitting on a huge pile of cash and thinking how stupid and irresponsible this was. It went against what I'd been raised to believe – that debt is bad.
That was before I understood the ramifications of the fed "targeting" 2% inflation – the joke's on me.
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 8 Dec 2023
Maybe I am not reading right, but is debt not the baseline function of how fiat works? I would say taking on debt has been deadly for nations, no? Idk if bitcoin is going to make "good debt" more popular, the opposite actually afaict
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @pillar 8 Dec 2023
It is, indeed.
And yes, it has for many. Because they didn't take debt for the right purpose.
You might enjoy reading about currency speculative attacks, or my Operation Saylor series here in SN, to better understand where I'm getting at.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 8 Dec 2023
Ah yes Ive seen them, really enjoy them!!
i believe i get what you're saying now with that context. I know that debt can work in your favor if used right. If you want to bet against the dollar then debt is by all means a good way to do that, as you've done in the series or as Saylor did, but I suppose I am wondering how the concept of debt and its relevance in general will look X years into hyperbitcoinization..
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55 sats \ 1 reply \ @TheBTCManual 8 Dec 2023
Well when you have better money that channels deflation, you can take your time to make quality products and get to enjoy the benefits of deflation, let's say something like soy sauce takes like 3 years to make, that a lot of capital risk and a duration mismatch can put you out of business, but if you have hard money planning for it is easier to manage
Instead in fiat it is harder now so you have to cut corners and dilute the product, cut it with all kinds of stuff
As for conventional wisdom, i think the biggest one that most normies don't get is yield/cash flow, I was speaking to a friend of mine, he owns bitcoin and shitcoins, and he can't get his head around the idea that bitcoin CAGR makes chasing yield/cash pointless. if you're money is hard you don't need to go risk it or earn it twice to stay with the amount you need to live
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 8 Dec 2023
Fiat has instilled a sense within us that finance NEEDS to be difficult. Bitcoin's simplicity baffles people, and I do get it from their perspective, it does sound too good to be true. Just have to be willing to put in individual critical thinking to see that the hype is REAL.
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42 sats \ 0 replies \ @CruncherDefi 8 Dec 2023
Fiat system forces not only individuals to keep running on a treadmill. It does the same to companies. And that's why we have planned obsolescence. If you don't have a savings tool (as a company), you must keep rotating your products to stay afloat.
Bitcoin standard fixes this and hopefully we go back to solid products lasting years.
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42 sats \ 1 reply \ @alamino 8 Dec 2023
Once upon a man who thought he had to exchange his workforce for colorful paper made by rich men in hist country. This paper is supposed to be used as fast as possible, as the rich men are producing and getting more paper.
The man, eventually, realized he could exchange his worktime for a finite piece of a limited and rare digital bit. Those bits could be stored inside his head and no one would ever know he owns all the time he spent in his own head. As the time passes by the time he he exchanged could afford more and more things to him.
That was the first time a man could really be free from others.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @birdeye21 OP 8 Dec 2023
A brand new millenia we are entering :)
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71 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 8 Dec 2023
It seems crazy to expect low-quality ingredients, like seed oils, to disappear on a bitcoin standard. However, they entered the food supply as a cheap replacement for higher quality oils.
We all know about the extensive margin of shrinkflation (products getting smaller), but there is an intensive margin as well (products become lower quality). That means in a non-inflationary environment, higher quality goods really might become more competitive on the market.
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462 sats \ 1 reply \ @birdeye21 OP 8 Dec 2023
Bitcoiners pretty much understand how the trends in money will shift, but it’s very interesting thinking about seemingly unrelated effects like these
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 8 Dec 2023
The downstream consequences of fiat are innumerable and fascinating. It's my favorite thing to discuss in Bitcoin spaces.
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42 sats \ 0 replies \ @nullama 9 Dec 2023
It used to be the case that more expensive was better.
But then marketing people realized this and started changing prices with tricks.
These days it's all a mess trying to captivate your attention and pay the most for the least amount of goods and services.
There used to be a time when businesses were respectable, trustworthy, and they were proud of their products. These days, most companies simply maximize their earnings, and they don't care about their goods and services. They only care about their earnings.
Same with employment, it used to be the case that you had loyal workers to a company that treated their workers fair. Now they will get rid of you the moment they can save some money.
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21 sats \ 2 replies \ @usagi 8 Dec 2023
That volatility = risk.
Bitcoin shows that volatility and risk can (and should) be evaluated separately.
Conventional wisdom is that the US dollar, being quite stable, is not risky, and that Bitcoin is highly volatile and therefore risky.
The dollar is indeed stable, but has nearly a one hundred-year track record of consistent inflation because fundamentally, the government can't resist itself. This is beyond "risky"; it's near-certain loss.
Bitcoin is volatile, but fundamentally represents a better (and sane) method of accounting. The best ideas don't always win, but I think Bitcoin has crossed the Rubicon already. If one's time horizon is greater than a few years, Bitcoin does not seem risky at all.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @birdeye21 OP 8 Dec 2023
This is a big one. Risk in general is vastly misunderstood
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @usagi 8 Dec 2023
The amazing thing is that this idea is what's been taught for decades at universities, and it goes largely unquestioned.
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinOutdoors 9 Dec 2023
Everybody gets bitcoin at the price they deserve
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @0207a984de 9 Dec 2023
Conventional wisdom: "Spend money as quick as possible, and force yourself to make risky investments. Otherwise, you'll just get killed by inflation."
Bitcoin wisdom: "Bitcoin guarantees you'll never get robbed by central bank policies. Save your money and watch your buying power grow over time."
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nodlsAndHodls 9 Dec 2023 freebie
The traditional investment portfolio. I know it's all fiat garbage to begin with, but I honestly believe that within the next decade most financial advisors (liars) are going to be forced into recommending people place a substantial amount of their 'portfolio' into corn.
Also, convention is usually the way that the majority go. When more of the world is repriced in terms of Bitcoin, whatever shakes out will become conventional. Just sayin.