How the Economic Machine Works (2014) • Hacker News Board

Re: How the Economic Machine Works (2014)

#41

Post by crimsonalucard » Fri, Jan 16, 2015, 1:56 AM UTC

ajankovic wrote: post #17

crimsonalucard wrote: post #9

Some things he says in this video bug me. 1. "Printing money doesn't always cause inflation." -- Printing money causes inflation under all cases unless money is literally destroyed at the same rate it is printed. A loan temporarily inflates the economy until it is paid off. By replacing credit with printed money you turn the "temporary inflation" into permanent inflation. 2. "Increase your productivity faster then yo…

> Even Elon Musk as hard working as he is cannot achieve his level of income off of his own productivity alone. Elon has specific role in "production". If his work/energy/decisions are going to spawn new factory, new technology or new product that is going to improve productivity of millions then by all means his income is justified by his productivity. > Printing money causes inflation under all cases unless money i…

>Elon has specific role in "production". If his work/energy/decisions are going to spawn new factory, new technology or new product that is going to improve productivity of millions then by all means his income is justified by his productivity.

A new technology, a new product, and improving the productivity of millions are not activities or goals that are achievable by any single individual. Elon must utilize additional human capital to achieve any of these goals. Thus there is a limit on how productive a human can be and in turn a limit on how much wealth he or she deserves.

>This is not true. Emphasis on "all cases". If you create money at exactly the same rate as the economy's produce grows than money has it's background in actual "things" that have value.

My bad, I meant most cases. Sorry.

Re: How the Economic Machine Works (2014)

#42

Post by crimsonalucard » Fri, Jan 16, 2015, 1:57 AM UTC

sharemywin wrote: post #12

crimsonalucard wrote: post #9

Some things he says in this video bug me. 1. "Printing money doesn't always cause inflation." -- Printing money causes inflation under all cases unless money is literally destroyed at the same rate it is printed. A loan temporarily inflates the economy until it is paid off. By replacing credit with printed money you turn the "temporary inflation" into permanent inflation. 2. "Increase your productivity faster then yo…

productivity is people + machines(computers included). most productivity is created by getting a machines to do something people manually did before. you create wealth by creating a machine that is more productive than anyone else at the time.

in terms of productivity produced by human capital, we are all bounded by our physical form and intelligence.

Re: How the Economic Machine Works (2014)

#43

Post by crimsonalucard » Fri, Jan 16, 2015, 1:59 AM UTC

Terr_ wrote: post #13

crimsonalucard wrote: post #9

Some things he says in this video bug me. 1. "Printing money doesn't always cause inflation." -- Printing money causes inflation under all cases unless money is literally destroyed at the same rate it is printed. A loan temporarily inflates the economy until it is paid off. By replacing credit with printed money you turn the "temporary inflation" into permanent inflation. 2. "Increase your productivity faster then yo…

> Printing money causes inflation under all cases unless money is literally destroyed at the same rate it is printed. Absolutely not! De flation occurs naturally in any growing economy--even when your currency is indestructible--as the same quantity of money-units is chasing a greater quantity of goods and labor. Consider the case of a crew stranded on a deserted island, who choose to found a new civilization. They d…

you're right. my mistake.

Re: How the Economic Machine Works (2014)

#44

Post by honeybooboo123 » Fri, Jan 16, 2015, 3:28 AM UTC

divegeek wrote: post #39

honeybooboo123 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, salaries are a variable, but even if salaries do rise in sync with inflation, that doesn't make inflation good. It's still bad. Nope, we can't expect our salaries to rise along with inflation - not in today's insane world. - http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ - http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/nov/23/uk-household-earnings-fall .. and w…

Sorry, you're badly confused about a lot of things, but it's not worth the effort to me to educate you. I'll just let you have the last word.

Well, that's an obvious cop-out. Of course, that's what people typically do when they have no chance of winning a debate.

Re: How the Economic Machine Works (2014)

#45

Post by honeybooboo123 » Fri, Jan 16, 2015, 10:22 AM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #37

honeybooboo123 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, I'm suggesting that we should be able to choose which currency to use. But now we can't. If we could, we'd choose a sound currency, and then our purchasing power would keep increasing steadily (because of productivity improvements and wealth accumulating over time).

We can't? I mean, I have to obtain USD to pay my taxes, but otherwise I can use currencies at will. I have a hard time finding anyone local who will accept or pay me in anything besides USD, but that's their own choice to do so.

That's misleading. It's not that everyone keeps choosing to use USD. They're all forced to pay taxes in USD too. If they weren't, they'd prefer a currency that can't be manipulated and that won't keep losing purchasing power.

In other words, they would be using a sound currency.

Oh, and if you spread an alternative currency, you will be imprisoned: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_dollar

> On March 18, 2011, von NotHaus was pronounced guilty of "making, possessing, and selling his own currency"

So there you have it. We peons are not allowed to use sound currencies, because it's not in our rulers' interest.