Steem is Definitely Money
Steem has re-introduced the idea of money as a competitive good.
It has done so in a meaningful way.
This idea has been missing from the economic debate for too long.
I, for one, am pleased to welcome it back.
Money as a Competitive Good
We’ve always had competitive ‘private’ monies.
A current example would be the Brixton pound.
These monies could never effectively compete with money Govt. fiat money.
If these monies existed on the Internet, they were promptly shut down.
Outside the Internet, and they could never scale to be a viable threat.
The govt. money monopoly was easily maintained.
Steem Dollars as Better Than Govt. Money
Steem value (money) can't be effectively shut down.
Steem facilitates value transfer, globally. For these reasons, it's competitive.
As a result we have a working experiment in money as a virtual good.
It's issued outside the apparatus of state, and it's competing with other monies.
This can be quite difficult to fathom.
Over several generations we have grown accustomed to money by central decree.
Surely that’s how it must always be? Nope, that is a crock.
Capitalism Needs Competing Money and Steem Dollars
Capitalism requires free markets, even for money.
Money is no different to any other good. It should be subject to market forces.
The lack of a free market in money is the core of our economic and societal problems.
Yet we accept it without question.
The greater casualty is capitalism itself.
It is routinely blamed for the constant boom-bust cycles.
The fundamental laws of economics operate like the laws of physics. They are immutable.
Only competitive money, like Steem, arising out of the marketplace, can steady this.
Steem value exists in the marketplace.
It will provide an alternative to the madness inherent in this manipulated system.
If Steem Dollars only serve to re-introduce the idea of money as a competitive good, it would have accomplished a great deal.
(this is a reimagining of an earlier piece I wrote for Bitcoin Magazine).