The power of the almighty US dollar is a bit of a mystery

Discussion in 'Economics' started by themickey, Sep 12, 2022.

  1. Pekelo

    Pekelo

    You are correct that no currency exist in a vacuum and everything is relative. The dollar is strong because the possibility of nuclear (or at least very cold) winter in Europe.

    Crypto isn't fixing the infinite supply, because contrary to their PR, cryptos are infinite. When you can fork something effortlessly, there is no limit in your existing numbers.
     
    #11     Sep 13, 2022
  2. SunTrader

    SunTrader

    Dollar is strong because possibility of worldwide recession is strong. No matter Russia/Ukraine war.
     
    #12     Sep 13, 2022
    nitrene likes this.
  3. piezoe

    piezoe

    Crypto can not fix this -- it will always remain a high risk instrument for speculation. If Germany would drop its opposition to the Euro bond, however, that would go a long way toward weakening the dollar and strengthening the euro. But say that to a German; you'll get nowhere. Germans, it seems, make fine engineers, but lousy economists -- just like the other Germans, i.e., the ones calling themselves Austrians.
     
    #13     Sep 13, 2022
  4. piezoe

    piezoe

    What you say about crypto is decididly untrue. What makes it a good instrument for speculation makes it a bad one for commerce. The more crypto you "mine" the more costly it becomes to mine more still! Theoretically its supply is infinite, but only theoretically. This is fundamentally why crypto can never replace sovereign fiat currencies. Gold has exactly the same problem.

    Fiat currencies have the fundamental characteristic of very flexible supply. Fiat currency can be both created or destroyed at constant cost in relationship to the productivity behind it. This is the marvelous characteristic of Fiat that makes it the perfect currency for modern globalized economies.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2022
    #14     Sep 13, 2022
  5. NoahA

    NoahA

    LOL.. This makes me laugh. So something you have to work hard for cannot replace something that is easy to make out of nothing??? You don't say....

    Its like you're saying that you want fiat currencies to stand for nothing, be total trash, because this one feature makes them someone worthy of being used by governments? Imagine going to the auto dealership and asking for their shittiest car with the worst safety rating. And then saying this is the model you want to use as the official company vehicle for your employees.
     
    #15     Sep 13, 2022
  6. Much of the rest of the world world would LOVE to see the $USD collapse... for political reasons. (They don't like living under the constraints of US sanctions, of course.) But economically... we've overspent and printed money... so has everybody else... thus $USD is still the "cleanest dirty shirt" among currencies.
     
    #16     Sep 13, 2022
    NoahA likes this.
  7. piezoe

    piezoe

    Both Crypto and Fiat currencies are worth what they can be exchanged for. They have no value in and of themselves. The relative values of fiat in the forex market reflects supply and demand. This in turn is a reflection of the perceived usefulness of each unit of the various currencies, which in turn tends to indirectly reflect the issuing nations' productivities.
     
    #17     Sep 13, 2022
    NoahA likes this.
  8. SunTrader

    SunTrader

    ........ worth what they can be exchanged for ... just like fiat.
     
    #18     Sep 13, 2022
  9. Pekelo

    Pekelo

    Nope, practically too:

    1. The coded limit can be changed by consensus. Code is NOT law.
    2. Forks. Forks double the supply immediately.
    3. Other cryptos, they also take away mining and buying power/investing capital from your precious one.

    In short, the existence of other cryptos (most of them are the same), the possibility of forks and changing the code practically makes every crypto infinite supply. Anybody who believes in the PR is a freaking moron.

    Not to mention limited issue is not what gives crypto value, so...
     
    #19     Sep 13, 2022
  10. piezoe

    piezoe

    I am not much of gambler so Crypto has never appealed to me, and the possibility of the rules changing is one of the things that keeps we away. But realistically what are the chances that those whose interests are best served by retaining the present algorithm will not prevail? I'll stick with theoretical until I see it happen.

    I know relatively little about crypto, but I thought forks not only doubled the supply but halved the value? For crypto to be truly useful for commerce you need to be able to vary the supply while maintaining approximately the same value per unit. That's possible with Fiat!

    Although "limited issue is not what gives crypto value", it is one of several things that make crypto unsuitable to replace fiat currencies.
     
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2022
    #20     Sep 13, 2022