Aggroed's Government Challenge - Agorist Monetarism

in #anarchy7 years ago

Money unites a society and serves as the measure of what its members value. By accepting something as money, each of us support the values implied by its protocol and the power of the individuals (if any) who have special control over it. Accepting U.S. dollars empowers the U.S. government and Federal Reserve. Accepting Bitcoin empowers miners. Accepting Steem empowers the Steem stakeholders and community.

With this principle in mind, the foundation of a system of government should be a clearly defined currency protocol. Just as Bitcoin and Steem provide for funding public services (transaction processing and security) by introducing new units into circulation, any desired set of public services could be funded by direct issuance of currency. The only limit is the people's support for the system and willingness to tolerate the inflation that will result from high levels of government spending under this system.

Funding spending through direct issuance of new currency involves dramatically lower overhead costs than an income tax, property tax, or sales tax. There is no paperwork to fill out, no complex code, and no enforcement expense. As an added benefit there is no artificial limit to the number of competing 'governments' that could exist following this pattern. Each has only to define its protocol, issue its currency, and begin attracting users who will accept its currency in payment and thereby support its promised programs. Consent of the governed could become the true path to influence rather than the tired excuse for dominance it is today.

The United States may (optimistically) already be on a path toward this system. As government spending is increasingly funded through additional debt rather than taxation, and with the Federal Reserve positioned as the lender of last resort, we could reach a point at which taxation is so unpopular that politicians have no interest in continuing it. Government spending could then be funded entirely through new currency brought into circulation through the Federal Reserve System. This could either be the beginning of the dollars hyper-inflationary death spiral, or the point at which U.S. politicians finally have the necessary incentives to spend responsibly. If the people have feasible alternatives to the dollar the odds of the latter case will be greatly increased. In a competitive government/currency market, governments will be required to limit spending to near the rate of economic growth so that issuance of new currency does not result in excessive price inflation. Excessive spending will result in their currency being replaced and their power stripped from them.

For such a system to work, it will be important that a strong consensus develop among the people that all should be free to accept or reject their chosen currencies free of violent coercion. As currencies develop network effect, there will be economic pressure to integrate with the mainstream. This pressure should be sufficient to allay concerns about free riders, but if large scale attempts are sustained to coerce conformity violently then the entire accountability system will be undermined.

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I am fairly confident that even the presence of competing cryptocurrency won't force politicians into spending responsibly. As it is, instead of embracing the reality that crypto is here to stay, most politicians, bankers and the MSM blow off crypto as some fly-by-night operation. This can be seen at the sheer amount of investors betting against BTC. (I mean, they can do that all they like, but even if crypto takes a dive and BTC loses its spot as head honcho, every day practically a new crypto is popping up, and with mainstream companies like Kodak even making an investment, you would have to be daft at this point to still maintain that crypto isn't in direct competition with USD.) The future is going to be volatile and messy I'm afraid. It doesn't have to be, but if I have learned anything from working in politics for my short 5 year stint, it's that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Politicians will continue to operate as they always have, and ignore every warning sign that the USD is in trouble. They will borrow themselves into the damn grave if it means accomplishing a means to an end for their own self interests. As it stands right now, we have an opportunity to start taxing something legitimately: marijuana. It wouldn't be the cure-all answer, but it would bring in a significant chunk of money, and the government could oversee its distribution. But of course we would have Jeff fucking Sessions blowing more precious tax dollars by taking the states to court that have legalized marijuana, and trying to get the decisions reversed via intimidation. Our government is never going to get with the program. The US will unfortunately require having its world absolutely rocked by the declining value of USD, and hopefully more people will get on board the crypto train before it leaves them at the station.

This is a really great article, btw, thanks for linking me to it.

The only way politicians will spend responsibly is if their available resources are actually constrained. Trying to convince them to constrain themselves with debt limits or budget balancing requirements won't work, so the only option is to use direct economic constraints. If cryptocurrencies develop such that taxation becomes unenforceable, politicians will be constrained by people's consent (one way or another).

I agree it will be volatile and messy, but a volatile mess of a vibrant and competitive currency market is far superior to the suffering caused when the state sponsored currency monopoly turns hyper-inflationary. I think it's unreasonable to assume that what's happening in Venezuela now can't happen anywhere eventually. I think we still have a good bit of time to avoid that in most of the world, but that's where we're headed if politicians are unrestrained and keep taking control over more resources.

I'm not sure how taxing marijuana would be considered more legitimate than taxing anything else. I've also heard auctioning off government claimed land as a fundraising option, but both of those would just be delays. As long as politicians can buy votes today by pushing costs into the future, there's not much chance of anyone coming into power who would spend responsibly. The only way to make a sustainable system is to make interaction dependent on consent. Externalizing costs onto others without consent leads reliably to resentment, conflict, and dysfunction.

I don’t know who I trust less, the State or the mob. I shudder to think of my fate being dependent on what either thinks or does, but unfortunately it is. I tend toward worst case scenarios. In this case, the current debt and fiscal irresponsibility leading to hyper-inflation of fiat currency followed by a global depression. That could result in political instability and ultimately war. I guess any other outcome is better than that one so I would welcome your less dismal solution.

As it is now, the State is the mob with a cloak of legitimacy. Mobs aren't all bad of course, but lack of accountability is one of their defining features, and the State preserves that characteristic. The design of government as it is now obfuscates responsibility to enable well intentioned order followers to commit acts they would consider reprehensible if undertaken by outsides to the system. Most only execute a small part of the action, so each feels no need to take responsibility for what is done. The general population enables this reckless destruction by celebrating anyone in a uniform as a hero, cheapening respect that should be earned only through consistent integrity, kindness, and strength of character.

I think most people (at least those who consider the question at all) recognize that the current pattern is unsustainable, but I've seen very few proposals for how to get off that path without an enormously destructive economic collapse and likely a major war.

I believe in a free market and money (units of account/exchange) where the mediums of exchange are decided upon and mutually agreed upon by the two parties involved in the buying/selling of goods or services. Currency attached to the state, empowers the state, allows for the funding of total war, enslaves the people through inflation tax, and over times always leads to a collapse of that monetary system and suffering of the people (Argentina, Zimbabwe, Weimar, Venezuela). The list of expired, extinct currencies is long, the average lifespan of a fiat is 30 years. One thing they all had in common is Government, statist, oversight and central banking authorities.

The only hope we will ever have for peace and economic stability is ending the central banks - ending the Federal Reserve and a return to sound money principles . Don't take my word for it, listen to Professor Ferdinand Lips, Antal Fekete, Ludwig Von Mises, Hans Herman Hopp, Murray Rothbard......

Until we get there, I don't care what we as a free people do. BTC, Gold & Silver, Gold & BTC, anything but the rotting leper currencies of statist dictators. Take their power - refuse their debt ridden currency of death.

End the Fed.

(re-steemed)

This is a solid text, like you said everything all depends on the people will to accept or reject the currencies without fear of reprisal

I for one,am a crypto lover, i stand with bitcoin and most especially i stand for steem
👏✌

I also feel there is always economic pressure to integrate with the mainstream in many aspects of life. The marketing and advertising techniques have at this point turned into mini Montauk project on the world. This post has some great insight.

@troglodactyl,

Governments will try to enforce control over the currencies as a component of the integration as we saw with South Korea. I see exchange via BitCoin as the main vulnerability to crypto currently, that could give rise to a Supercoin by which the value of all other coins are determined and thereby rendered practically worthless.

Bitcoin is finite in supply and alt coin exchange demand is going to push prices through the roof as adoption increases.

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There will hardly be a government not in debt.