Magic Numbers. Debt is magical. Look at what it has allowed us to do. And, everyone everywhere can have all of this! Because, debt...it's just a NUMBER!
It's not even real. We just made it up. It's a series of 0's and 1's in a computer.
So, why does it matter whether you have 18 trillion or 180 trillion or 180 quadrillion dollars in debt? What? You run out of space?
This is how debt works. The U.S. decides it needs $500 million in debt. It goes to its neighbors and says, "Hey, is it ok if we print up $500 million?" The neighbors ask, "Can I get some of it? (trade agreements)" "Sure." "Ok." Then, the U.S. says, "We'll send you some IOU's (bonds), and you send us dollars (we'll print some), ok?" "Ok."
So, why would all of a sudden, all the nations stop buying U.S. bonds? It's like saying we don't want to get paid any more. We don't want any more money. After all this time of the U.S. going to 75% debt to GDP with over $18 trillion in debt, the world suddenly says it ain't working? So, it's going to stop buying U.S. debt and screw itself into utter destruction? WTF?
Let's say the financial system broke down (because they ran out of space.) Right. If it's just a number, then couldn't you issue an IOU and record it on a blockchain?
If we all started to just send official IOU's to each other, couldn't we, the people, decide what valuations we agree to and trust in each other to keep? Isn't money just an agreement on the value of some unit that was given a name and ownership rights?
If this digital IOU can be transferred, traded, and reliably scored and reviewed, could we trust it? All we need to know would be the exact date and time, who it's from, their digital signature, the amount, who it's going to, their signature, and an optional note.
How big is $18 trillion in U.S. debt compared $18 quadrillion? What's the difference? Really, what's the difference except for it being a different number. It's still just a number. As long as everybody decides it's ok, what that number is exactly is not important.
What if the financial system does really collapse. When "they" talk about the collapse, isn't it just a banking collapse? What if the financial system did collapse, and nothing happened? If everybody just started issuing IOU's to each other on blockchains and it was ok, with people believing that the financial system would eventually get its head out of its ass and fix itself.
As long as one person says it's ok to be paid with an IOU, then this new system starts working. Why should the rest of us suffer because some bankers screwed up?
When the bankers stop being crybabies and get back to the business of banking, the IOU's could be settled for currencies. Otherwise, why in the world would people just fuck themselves because they didn't receive their numbers? (get paid a salary like normal.) Is everyone really that unhappy that they'd just want to fuck themselves into oblivion?
Just over some fucking number? That has nothing to do with them directly on a personal level? Really? Really?! Are we really that fucking stupid? That we'd completely self-destruct because SOME FUCKING BANKERS FUCKED UP?!!!
Really? Self-destruct over THAT? Kill each other because some bankers decided it was fiscally infeasible? Because they ran out of space on their ledger?
Debt is a wonderful thing. It's a gift. A miracle of human ingenuity. Whoever discovered or invented debt should receive an award.
In the IOU blockchain, every penny would have a unique story of how it became a penny. From the time it was issued and divided and passed and repeated, until it finally became a penny. Every penny would have a unique signature. It could never be counterfeited.
IOU's in the form of blockchain currency has the potential to completely eliminate the financial banking system as we know it.
Debt was the first gift modern civilization received. It allowed humanity to do some really wondrous things. The blockchain is the second. This will change EVERYTHING.
Money is essentially an IOU, a debt. It's saying I owe you this much in exchange for this product or service. Until now, we've used the dollar (et al) to convey this message. By accepting a dollar the recipient is saying I trust your IOU and believe I can take it and pay for something else with it.
The underlying asset is not money. It's trust. That's why we accept other currencies as money, because of trust. Why? Because it's verifiable. What if every penny could be verified wherever it went? So, that if I give it to you, you can take it to give it to someone else just as easily. That's trust.
If an IOU can be verifiable and traceable down to every penny, can it be trusted? Of course.
The blockchain will change everything. There will be no economic collapse. How could an economic collapse occur when now we have a means to simply sidestep the currency(s) that's collapsing. Even if every single currency in the world collapsed at the same time, cryptocurrencies could come in to replace them in no time. You just simply take whatever currency is collapsing and convert it to some form of crypto that makes sense at the time. The greatest thing about cryptos is that the underlying asset lending its value can be anything. It doesn't have to be another currency. It can be real estate, valuables, assets, reputation, identity, products, services, knowledge, time, skills, etc. Any of these things can be converted into a crypto that carries value and can be traded for other cryptos.
You don't even have to worry about hyperinflation because what we know is that no currency stays hyperinflated. It always comes back to a norm. So, if some bankers in charge of a certain currency fuck up and that currency goes to shit, a crypto can be set up to convert that currency with valuations matching those before the mess. It's a means to put away a currency that's in trouble until its problems are resolved. And, how much the replacement crypto is worth will tell people when the underlying currency is stable again.
It doesn't even need to revert back to the former currency. The new crypto can replace a troubled currency altogether. If the entire nation of Italy converted their lira into dollars, did their money disappear? No, it just got converted. Before cryptos, all conversions took place from one government issued currency to another government issued currency. And, each government held constrains over how it's done. Now, it doesn't matter. With cryptos, you can convert however much whenever you want. Eventually, everyone will own many kinds of cryptos. And eventually, everyone will hold most of their assets in cryptos. Thereafter, people will ask to be paid their wages in cryptos. When that happens, all people will be freed from the tyranny of central bankers and their governments overruling how people spend and manage their wealth.
For the first time, we can create a crypto to store value and trade it among each other whenever it's necessary. All it takes is for one person to issue a payment in a crypto and have it accepted by another and that other is able to issue another payment to someone else.
For payroll, an employer has X $'s available for payroll. An employee receives an IOU that records the amount with a unique signature for that amount. The employee then takes their pay and spreads it around of which each of those are recorded with a unique signature. Eventually every penny gets split up. When it reaches the state of being its own penny or smallest unit, it adopts a permanent unique signature. And, on this signature contains every step the penny took.
Eventually, every penny will get traced back to its creation in the federal reserve or treasury.
We should embrace debt for what it really is. It's an instrument, a tool for humanity invented to allow us to create the greatest human existence we have known so far. Debt has allowed us to do that. Ask yourself if you're better off now than before.
I think in general, the world is better off now than in past times. Of course, there are problems but there wouldn't be if everybody just plays along and join the money game. We could all get rich together. It's just a number.