Bitcoin Forum

I thought this was kinda funny...

I've been a bit of an "armchair economist" for quite a few years, I guess. And I've always leaned a bit toward the Austrian School. I've done a lot of reading of Ludwig von Mises' work. I was first introduced to him by "The Anti-Capitalist Mentality" quite a few years ago. Of course I don't take everything von Mises (or any economist) says as a religious text, but he had a lot of great ideas and an understanding of markets and monetary systems few possess.

Since I enjoy a lot of von Mises' work, I inevitably ended up reading quite a few articles from the Ludwig von Mises Institute (http://mises.org/). There's a lot of good/interesting stuff to read on there. But of course, Ludwig von Mises is dead and this site is run by a group of libertarian-ish folks based in Alabama. So of course, the content on the site is not necessarily the views of von Mises himself. I've run across a few articles that made me double-facepalm...

I ran across one such facepalm inspiring article today, titled "The Bitcoin Money Myth" (http://mises.org/daily/6411/). For those with short attention spans, I will give you a tl;dr summary of it...

tl;dr version:

• Bitcoin is not real money
• Bitcoin can never replace fiat money
• Bitcoin is not superior to fiat money at all
• Bitcoin isn't a "true currency"
• Bitcoin isn't a new currency because it's just a way to spend existing currency
• The increase in Bitcoin's price is simply because it has good features/tech and provides new ways to transfer existing fiat currency

The author doesn't directly say it, but the article gives you the impression that he thinks Bitcoin is just a short-lived "hype bubble" and that it won't be around much longer...


But after I read the article, I noticed something funny... On the right-hand column of the page, near the bottom of the article's text, was a little box entitled "The Quotable Mises" that features a random Ludwig von Mises quote each time you load the page. And what did the quote say?

"Only stilted pedants can conceive the idea that there are absolute norms to tell what is beautiful and what is not. They try to derive from the works of the past a code of rules with which, as they fancy, the writers and artists of the future should comply. But the genius does not cooperate with the pundit." -- Ludwig von Mises



https://i.imgur.com/XAaLlFm.jpg

 Ha! :)

Nice, now that is an example of class

I give the Ludwig Von Mises quote a thumbs up and am honestly surprised that the Mises Institute would throw a negative on this.
They may not be Ludwig but they need to reanalyze it.

Brilliant Economist though and that's a great quote ^_^.
Satoshis spirit channeled through Ludwig on that one

Mine was

The Quotable Mises
Ludwig von Mises: "Socialism promises not only welfare wealth for all but universal happiness in love as well. This part of its program has been the source of much of its popularity." - Socialism

Fiat currency is based on faith in the government issuing it. Cryptocurrency is based on an undeniable and unalterable mathematical certainty. Fiat is like religion... either you have faith or you don't. Currently the masses have faith. That may not always be the case. When faith fails the system collapses. Cryptocurrencies do not require either faith or a government, or for that matter the blessing of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

What he says does have "some" truth to it.. Its not a true currency...YET.. etc etc.. we are getting there. If you understand bitcoin you would know that its in its infancy and most of what it is.. or will be.. has yet to be determined..

Infancy stage insofar as a currency goes.

2.0 applications really starting to gain some traction.

Nicely put.  But these organisations are made up of people that use currency, and bitcoin needs the faith of people

Technically, Bitcoin is not money until it is a commonly accepted medium of exchange. Until then it is, in the words of the Central Bank of China: "a virtual commodity."

This is true and a lot of what the "hater" said is true, however he failed to mention the fact that what is he is true "now" but that bitcoin has the potential to grow and evolve over time to become a "real" currency

When bitcoin overtakes paypal, it won't be just a virtual commodity

yes, I agree with you. maybe now we will not get there, but soon we will get a period where bitcoin into something respectable and respected more than money

"Bitcoin can function only as long as individuals know that they can convert it into fiat money"

Erm, no, it functions as long as individuals can convert it for GOODS AND SERVCIES, which they can, and it does function. ...

Cmon now guys..really....you really wanna spend your time arguing with that guy? Make him realzize that he's wrong? It's more productive to talk to a wall or something. That screenshot in first post sais it all...he has no idea what he's talking about and WHERE he's talking about it as being pwnd so hard by web page your writing on sais it all. Pwnd by web server.

yea he has little clue on how bitcoin works, we can leave him behind once bitcoin starts taking over