RE: Why I Just Paid Taxes on My 2017 Steemit Earnings
Is this the constant libertarian refrain regarding "gubermit is unnecessary" drivel? It always astounds me how the libertarians place such zealous trust in mere merchants and mercantile processes to organize a functioning, stable society. Merchants' only goal is acquiring and hoarding more money, and society governed by such muck in "voluntarism" tend to devolve into chaos commonly seen in failed states (Somalia).
If your benchmark for a well-governed society is STEEM blogosphere, then I truly hope the nation-states and the banking cartel regulate cryptocurrency in order that such degenerative future does not actualize. STEEM blogosphere is ruled by so-called "whales" who engage in infantile flag wars for the most trivial reasons; it is a place where any two-bit bum can set-up a fiefdom; it is a platform that multiplies the vapidity of the modern Western "pop" culture by directly monetizing drivel; and it is a platform for anti-establishment "revolutionaries," who nonetheless giddily accept payment in virtual baubles pegged to the "worthless" fiat. STEEM platform is not some utopian ideal; it is accentuation of our current reality writ onto blockchain.
The libertarian drivel about "intrinsic" value of money is pure nonsense. Money derives value from socio-cultural convention, legitimized and propagated by the power of the state/king. Without central authority defining weights, measures, and coinage, money does not exist. The Lydian king's acceptance of worthless yellow metal, shaped into a disc, stamped with his imprimateur as tax remittance gave gold its value. Somehow, this basic relationship gets ignored by the libertarians. Government taxation creates value of money, since whatever medium (gold, silver, copper, bronze, horse, cattle, fiat, sea shells, pieces of wood) the state accepts as tax remittance is imbued with end-use utility. For all the hype regarding "peer to peer" drivel, why would any sane man accept virtual baubles without any end-use value as payment for services and goods? Cryptocurrencies have no value, if it cannot be converted into fiat for tax remittance.
And it truly does astound me that with government track records, others place zealous trust in regulation determined by a small group of citizens, versus all of the citizens(or at least those buy stuff...so I guess again, all of the citizens haha). Don't get me wrong, I am not arguing that this was a flaw in the past, it was absolutely necessary. But the ever expanding global connectivity no doubt improves local connectivity as well.
I have a hard time developing a response to your second paragraph...I don't intend to comment on how other people see fit to interact with the platform other than with my voting. What is valuable to one person is so subjective, but value is incapable of being "right or wrong", it is only an agreed upon value.
I understand that in the past, we looked to leaders with such high regard, and in some cases, very warranted. People used to believe Kings were chosen by a god, and in democratic states, people could choose. But there has never been a time where a ruler demonstrated the best outcomes for every citizen, in every person's individual opinion. I don't argue that as the goal, but I do argue that it will continue to happen. It costs some people value to their time, some people their freedom, some people their life...
The material that money is made up from never matters. That's why there's no difference in value between the USD backed by gold and the USD backed by nothing at all. The community continued to agree that it had value so it still does.