Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

ft.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 218 posts

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#201

Post by dools »

jcbrand wrote: post #82
dools wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which propaganda videos would you prefer I watch? This is a good start: https://youtu.be/sT1KoXayDNU

I'm familiar with Mosler and MMT. MMT requires the government to raise taxes once inflation starts rising due to previous money printing. What are governments doing now? They are actually thinking of handing out more money to people to offset the effects of inflation (thereby making the inflation worse). In other words, MMT requires governments to always do the right thing, which they don't. That's ignoring the theor…

> MMT requires the government to raise taxes once inflation starts rising due to previous money printing.

That’s a common misconception. Have you seen any MMT economist advocate a tax increase recently?

Here is an excellent podcast with one of the most eminent MMT scholars Randall Wray discussing his recent publication on how to deal with inflation in the US currently:

https://realprogressives.org/podcast_episode/episode-173-inf...

Here is the publication:

https://www.levyinstitute.org/pubs/ppb_157.pdf

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#202

Post by dools »

md2020 wrote: post #131
dools wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Which propaganda videos would you prefer I watch? This is a good start: https://youtu.be/sT1KoXayDNU

MMT is widely regarded as not in agreement with the few things we’re pretty sure we know about economics, and furthermore its proponents generally refuse to publish actual models of the system they propose. Here’s a good examination of an MMT model that finds it somewhat lacking: https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/examining-an-mmt-model-in-...

The opening line of this blog is:

> MMT, for those who aren’t familiar with it, is a small, cohesive group of people who go around telling the government to borrow more and spend more.

Which is fundamentally incorrect and betrays a misunderstanding of MMT so his opinion is irrelevant

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#203

Post by mrpf1ster »

cdata wrote: post #168
mrpf1ster wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the (many) problems with cryptocurrency is that it’s holders are financially incentivized to generate hype and get people to buy in to it to drive the value of their coins up. Thus I am extremely skeptical of people with pro-cryptocurrency views on this website. If I had significant holdings in crypto, you can bet I would also be on hacker news trying to legitimize and defend anything to do with crypto to get…

I consider myself a centrist in this debate. I don't think "crypto" technology is one giant scam (though there is a lot of scamming taking place), and I don't think it has delivered on most of its promises either (I suspect this will change in time). In your comment I read rhetoric that attempts to de-legitimize the other side by questioning if they are even authentic members of your community. Your comment is not "w…

I agree that I am definitely on one side of the fence regarding cryptocurrency. And perhaps my comment was a little too inflammatory.

However, how do you approach a nuanced debate on this issue when one side has a financial incentive to promote their views and is liable to act in bad faith because of it?

Not to mention the proliferation of bots online making it extremely hard to trust that any online discourse is genuine anymore.

Not suggesting that half of hacker news is bots, but it only takes a few to seed an idea in a community.

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#204

Post by throwaway290 »

birracerveza wrote: post #198
throwaway290 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reply that next time I ask "make up an entirely new system with the same human factor problems but now rogue actors acting with impunity, no oversight and fewer avenues to democratically influence them" rather than "fix it" If you live in a democratic country, you actually have ways of fixing it. And no, you don't need to give up your freedom for blockchain panopticon in the process.

>If you live in a democratic country, you actually have ways of fixing it You still haven't told me in what fantasy land you live where that is actually possible.

Are you living in China or something? Sorry if so. I meant a country with a democratically elected government.

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#205

Post by roenxi »

RandomLensman wrote: post #195
roenxi wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...do people care about it enough to vote for people with an agenda for it... Yep. Happens regularly. > ...or pay for it to change? And nope, certainly not. But crypto will fall into the same category - stamping out the ability to do the - rather simple - necessary maths would require horrific compromises that are simply not supportable. This technology has radically altered the power balance of moving funds around…

I don't think asset freezes are high on most people's agenda in first world countries. And the developing world does not have the GDP to move how things are done in the large economies for now.

Sure it is. Every so often the government rolls in and reallocates wealth to the wealthy - eg, as happened in '08 and is famously memorialised in the Bitcoin genesis block. Dealing with asset shenanigans like freezes is exactly why the crypto project started. If you've got no assets then sure, ignore that. Otherwise it makes sense to start tallying the risks against government seizures.

Plus asset freezes are on the cards for shutting down protesting truckers. If we're living in a world where the Canadian government can attack truckers (of all people) with asset freezes why can't it happen to you or me? I don't see the much difference between myself and a Canadian trucker. I suppose I couldn't handle working hard for more than about 6 hours at a time.

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#206

Post by RandomLensman »

roenxi wrote: post #205
RandomLensman wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think asset freezes are high on most people's agenda in first world countries. And the developing world does not have the GDP to move how things are done in the large economies for now.

Sure it is. Every so often the government rolls in and reallocates wealth to the wealthy - eg, as happened in '08 and is famously memorialised in the Bitcoin genesis block. Dealing with asset shenanigans like freezes is exactly why the crypto project started. If you've got no assets then sure, ignore that. Otherwise it makes sense to start tallying the risks against government seizures. Plus asset freezes are on the…

Do you have any data backing up that asset freezes are high on most people's agenda? Where I live certainly it is not, doesn't even show up in any surveys etc. and the asset freezes at Canadian truckers are/were not really much of a news item (living in large European country). I can see that trust in banks has eroded a bit (still surprisingly high) but asset freezes or seizures are not a thing in the public eye where I live.

I can believe that for some people the topic is high on the agenda, but really "most"?

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#207

Post by birracerveza »

throwaway290 wrote: post #204
birracerveza wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you live in a democratic country, you actually have ways of fixing it You still haven't told me in what fantasy land you live where that is actually possible.

Are you living in China or something? Sorry if so. I meant a country with a democratically elected government.

No, I live in a democratic country, where politicians make empty promises and either accomplish nothing or just line up their pockets. Like most democratic countries.

I know that's cynical, but welcome to reality.

I have long been disillusioned by the fact that people can have an impact on their society by simply electing someone that will totally be fixing the issues that have been plaguing society for decades, for real this time, pinky swear.

But hey, again, if you live somewhere that actually happens let me know and I'll board the next rocket.

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#208

Post by throwaway290 »

birracerveza wrote: post #207
throwaway290 wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you living in China or something? Sorry if so. I meant a country with a democratically elected government.

No, I live in a democratic country, where politicians make empty promises and either accomplish nothing or just line up their pockets. Like most democratic countries. I know that's cynical, but welcome to reality. I have long been disillusioned by the fact that people can have an impact on their society by simply electing someone that will totally be fixing the issues that have been plaguing society for decades, for…

It's not magic, it takes time but crucially this is not like authoritative regimes that censor all media, you have access to information and you can vote.

If there is no one suitable to vote for, maybe you can be that guy. And on flip side, if you think no one will vote for you, maybe your opinion is not aligned with the majority in your country.

Re: Tech experts urge Washington to resist crypto industry’s influence

#210

Post by jonathancrisp »

jonathancrisp wrote: post #209

This letter is now on FLO. https://floexplorer.net/address/f6shpgd8zrmhhpbe4lot2nzxlxqv... Also, the first transaction to this address (115f93d1e...) contains its private key.

Oop https://floexplorer.net/address/F6sHpGd8zRMHHPbe4Lot2nZXLXQV...
Post reply on HN