I remember stagflation being a big thing during (or before) the Reagan era in the US--I wasn't old enough to care about economics back then, but I became aware of it well after the fact. 

In 1980, which I think is around the time the US was experiencing stagflation (I didn't check the Wikipedia article before posting this, as it's late and I'm lazy), silver was hitting $50/oz., though that was mostly due to the Hunt brothers trying to corner the market.  And I've been following the precious metals market for years now, and gold & silver have been inching upward since about 2018 or so.  I'm not sure what's causing that, though it certainly could be investors seeking safety from inflation.  That would be a damn smart thing to do if you've been seeing how much money has been created ever since the beginning of "quantitative easing".

And yeah, I wonder if people are going to be eyeing bitcoin as an alternative to stocks or to protect their cash from inflationary effects.  Obviously many have, since we just hit a new ATH but there are still so many of them who've never owned a single satoshi.  I think bitcoin's newness is probably one factor that's working against it with respect to its adoption during times of inflation/stagflation, but the biggest one is its volatility.  Would you try to protect your cash by buying bitcoin now, when it just hit $64k?  Hardcore bitcoiners surely would, but I doubt Wall Street folks or the average Joe would.

Dang, you always make me wish I had gotten my username changed!  Anyway, I have the mining section on ignore because of how little input I can give in there.  I think I'm going to reverse my stance on that thinking, because while I don't mine I do find it very interesting, and that post you quoted was indeed an excellent one.  I would kill to have a basement like that and the money to spend on all that mining hardware. 

My sMerit supply is running relatively low, so I'm going to opt to not merit that post.  There are several members who've been PM'ing me for post reviews, and I need to have enough sMerits to give out when I get those requests.  But I do appreciate you quoting it and thus bringing it to my attention, because I never saw it.

I'll take a look at Sayeds56's post history and see if there's anything worth meriting just for the hell of it.

I wasn't implying that you were, my man.  I was just wondering out loud whether you were being genuine or trolling.  Now I'm starting to really believe it's the former.  By the way, if the person you could borrow $50k from is a friend, my advice would be to never do that.  Borrowing or anything to do with money can ruin friendships in a heartbeat, believe me.

That's kind of what I figured.

That's not good, but don't give up hope on life.  There are a lot of people who are going through some really shitty times right now, but they're not being as open about it as you are.  There are also a lot of people who've come back from the brink of suicide and problems that seemed insurmountable.  You're a young guy, and it's not easy adjusting to adulthood and everyone's expectations of you.  I sure as hell didn't have an easy time when I was your age.

Don't take offense to this, but I don't remember doing a deal with you at all--but I wouldn't give out your identity even if I had it, so don't worry about that.

Not sure exactly what you mean here, but the younger generation has grown up online so it might be harder to have an "online persona" that's different than who they are in real life.  I'm not 100% certain of that--it's just a theory, though I do know the internet plays a much bigger role in the lives of millenials, zoomers, and whatever generations there are up to the Gen Zs, and it's probably true of a lot of the Zs and older folks, too.

Ehhhhhh....I don't know what to think about this post.  Truly.  If you're being honest and not just trolling here, I'd say you definitely need a lot more help than you're getting.  Unfortunately I have no way of knowing if you're telling the truth or not--and this thread isn't directed toward me anyway, so I'm just chiming in.

I'm assuming you're a grown man, i.e., an adult.  You said you attended university, and I don't know if you graduated or not, but that would make you at least 18 or older, right?  And let's assume you're not trolling.  Is there any way you can get out of your parents' house?  Do you have any funds saved up or a job or some other means of living independently?  It sounds like a lot of your issues stem from your relationship with your mom and dad, so them being in close proximity all the time can't be healthy.

That's all I'm going to say, because a few other members have said you're trolling, and it's not as though members haven't written threads like this before as a means of getting attention or satisfaction from other members' reactions.  I usually don't take what people on the internet say at face value unless there's a good reason to, but in this case I'm leaning toward believing you.

Didn't we have this sort of animation in some thread on the forum before?  I thought I recalled seeing something like this, though it could have been some other stat.

I enjoyed watching that, and it's kind of funny seeing Lauda just keep dropping down as time went on, which I think is a reflection of him/her/whatever going off the deep end before finally leaving the forum.  And I'm still surprised that I was in that race at all.  People have been very generous to me as far as merits go, and I've always appreciated that (though I now don't want anyone to give me merits; give them to members who need to rank up).

Another thing is that I shudder when I see all the merits Theymos has received, because they don't get redistributed at a very high rate as far as I know (though I haven't checked his merit profile lately), and that fact is absolutely true for satoshi.  I guess I tend to see merits not just as a form of "like" but as a ranking-up tool, and as such they're something with real utility behind them.  When you give satoshi merits, they just hit a dead end.

Jesus....when you uncover a farm this big, there's no way in hell the person or persons behind it are doing it because they're dirt poor and have "family problems" (who doesn't?).  It's because they're greedy, dishonest, and they'll give you every excuse in the book in order to escape the consequences.

By the way, nice work linking all of these accounts.  Must've taken up a ton of your time, but the community appreciates it.

No, this is the right section for scam accusations, but for one thing I think you're probably being a bit premature in making one, as people have pointed out that freebitco.in is a reputable faucet/gambling site and second, when you're making an accusation against someone or against a service you need to follow the scam accusation format, which is stickied on the first page of the section.  That would include providing evidence that you got scammed--and that's probably the most important part, because if you don't then  nobody is going to take your accusation seriously.

Hope you get your issue resolved, because that's not a trivial sum of bitcoin.  If you do, why don't you follow up here and tell us what happened.

Thanks for posting that statistic, because I wasn't sure what the US inflation rate is right now.  That doesn't seem to be that high, but compared to all those years when inflation was near zero, it's really damn high.  And yep, that 4-6% doesn't apply across the board for all goods and services. 

Just look at gas prices, which have gone from an average of $2.0x (or something like that) to well over $3/gallon today--and that's a massive hit on people's wallets, since most people drive.  The folks with the huge, gas-guzzling SUVs are taking the biggest hit, though I have little sympathy for them.

Oddly enough, I've noticed that regular Cheetos have been frequently out of stock in my area, though those awful hot ones are still on the shelves.  I've also seen cat food shelves near empty as of late.

As to your question of how bad it's going to get....I have no idea.  I assume the supply chain people are working on a fix and doing the best they can, though that's a pretty generous and optimistic assumption to make.  Let's say I'm hoping those things are true.

Lightlord's story could be true, it could be untrue--do any of us know him that well in real life to know the truth?  I'm sorry, but if that statement was written by a member with less of a reputation, it would be criticized and dissected and analyzed under a microscope.

I respectfully disagree, because the truth is that 1) This isn't the first time this has happened with him, and 2) He's obviously set up a gambling site and an accompanying signature campaign that doesn't have a fail-safe mechanism in place that would allow operations to continue should he get sick or otherwise become unable to do everything himself.  Even if he's made improvements, I still don't trust that a debacle like this won't happen again.

It might be dust to you, but if you're really thinking of a signature campaign as something where it's OK to delay payments for weeks because "fuck it, it's only dust" then you're not taking into account all the advertising the participants are doing for lightlord, which they've agreed to do for payment.  It also might not be a trivial amount for a participant depending on what country they live in.

I'm not trying to break your spirit either, but I also stopped reporting shitposts after a while, because there are just so many of them from so many accounts that you could spend 18 hours a day in Altcoin Discussion alone reporting shitposts and go to bed not having reported even 60% of them--that's how bad the situation is.

Having said that, don't give up!  The moderators depend on members reporting garbage.  Hilariousandco once suggested to me (IIRC) that if you find a member who's consistently making shitposts, you can just report one or two of them with a note in the report that the member is making zero-value posts nonstop.  So you don't have to go through a member's post history and report them one by one (unless you want to).

The altcoin sections are the worst of the worst in terms of forum post quality, by the way.  You may have figured that out already, but that's where all the bounty hunters go to meet their post quota.

Yeah, I've got just under 5000 in over 6 years.  I stopped reporting as much as I used to right after the merit system was introduced, as the problem seemed to have gotten better--which it did, but obviously the merit system didn't eliminate it altogether.

Sure, if they're required to use it I suppose--but I doubt any cryptocurrency FB creates is going to induce anyone who's at present not interested in crypto to suddenly develop an interest in it.  Nor do I think Diem/Libra is going to give bitcoin a run for its money.  I had the same feeling when FB was trying to get Libra out to market and still do.

Man, society is spending like crazy right now, which is one of the reasons why inflation is increasing.  Supply chain backups might be a huge problem in the making, but that isn't keeping people from buying all sorts of things and investing in many different asset classes, too. 

Whether people are ready for and are going to use Diem remains to be seen, and I guess we'll find out.  Personally, I hope it falls flat on its face (like Google+, which obviously isn't a cryptocurrency but it made me smile when it failed), but I will be following its progress just to see how it fares.

Man, that sentence in English doesn't even make much sense, never mind the Italian translation! 

And yeah, I'd say there's way more than enough evidence that points to this stronzo either using a translation service or simply doing a shitty job manually translating something into a language which he's obviously not proficient in.  I don't usually tag translation scammers, but I'll make an exception in this case.

That may be true (and I believe it is, though I don't think I'd use the term "parasite" to describe wealthy individuals), but your examples represent two extremes which probably make up just a small percentage of all the citizens of, let's say, the United States.  I don't know what the situation is in other countries; the percentage of both classes of parasites could be higher or lower depending on the state of the economy.  The majority of people are middle-class folks working jobs, with families, and they neither rely on the government to take care of them, nor go to great lengths to hide their wealth from the tax man.

If I had to pick my least favorite category, it would be the rich "parasites" but only because there's a tinge of envy in me that I'm loathe to admit.  The reason I don't think they're true parasites to society is that they do pay a lot of taxes, even if they find loopholes in tax law or even hide money in off-shore accounts or whatever.  Also, the uber-wealthy contribute to the economy through their spending, which directly and indirectly helps everyone else

Oh, by the way, the political system is absolutely corrupt to the core.  It always has been, probably always will be. 

I'm not putting him on ignore just yet, but I'll be damned if I know what the alleged wrongdoings are and where the proof is.  True, my Jello brain ain't what it used to be, but normally when an accusation is made and evidence is presented there isn't such a vicious backlash against the accuser (though SmokerFace's obviously confrontational style isn't helping).

If I didn't know any better, I'd be temped to think Lauda or someone like nullius is back, though the latter tended to write novellas for each of his posts and didn't have a habit of poking everyone with a stick.  And I know it can't be TECSHARE, RIP buddy.  I'm really wondering if he's an alt of another account, though I'm sure he wouldn't cop to that even if asked.

Um....P2P transactions of what, exactly, if it isn't money?  The two books I've read on bitcoin and its creation make it clear that bitcoin was intended to be a form of money, and money has to have some purchasing power.  Therefore, if a brand new, groundbreaking form of money is created, it basically has to have its value (purchasing power) expressed in terms of what goods and services are priced in--and that's fiat currency, of course.  Long story short, bitcoin has always had a fiat price attached to it and that was inevitable.

OP, bitcoin is traded on exchanges and the driving forces of its price are supply and demand, it's that simple.  That's why we see these crazy price fluctuations, and it's why there's rampant speculation (especially at times like these, when the price has gone up a lot).

And let me ask you a question: If you were an average Joe on the street, working a 9-5 job and collecting a paycheck, do you think you'd have any interest whatsoever in bitcoin if its price remained stable?  That's a rhetorical question, and I think most of us know the answer.  Yes, bitcoin can function as a currency, but the vast majority of people are happy with using their debit cards, smartphones, or cash to pay for things, and they're not demanding an alternative to fiat currency.

Yeah, you stopped farming after Theymos created the merit system because there was no way you'd be able to rank up a bunch of accounts anymore.  Obviously you're still active, since you've replied in this thread, so that leads me to believe that you're probably participating in bounties and most likely enrolling alts in the same one(s).  I've found that once bounty hunters get a taste of the money they can make, they don't stop doing it unless they're forced to.

Jesus.  What the hell am I doing wrong?  Well, if you wonder why everyone is quitting their job and staying at home, this is one of those reasons.

Those mainstream media stories about the richest people in the world don't tend to mention people who've attained their wealth through criminal activities, do they?  And yeah, paxmao, I think if that kind of reporting didn't sanitize those articles I'm pretty sure there would be a lot of Mexican cartel bosses included on the lists.  I'm not exactly sure how big the illicit drug market is (particularly cocaine and heroin), but my guess is that it's made a lot of people extremely rich.  Probably not on the level of Elon Musk or Warren Buffett, but who knows?

I'd say if there was a list made which was based off of complete information about exactly how much each person is worth, the top 10 wealthiest individuals would include at least one of those narco trafficers.

SmokerFace, I ask this in all sincerity, because I obviously missed something about the SmallRabbit account:  What's the deal with it and Royse777 and the latter defending the former?  It seems like in this post and at least one other in the thread those posts are in that Royse777 isn't defending SmallRabbit at all.  Quite the contrary, really.  Again, maybe I'm missing something obvious--that tends to happen a lot with me for some reason (retardedness hasn't been ruled out yet).

Oh, man....I don't know if Saylor's idea is a good one, even if he and his company have made a killing since investing in bitcoin.  He's basically saying that a country's bitcoin investment could be multiplied by 10 in 5 year's time, and while that could be true, we all know how volatile it is and, if we're being honest with ourselves, we don't know what the future of bitcoin is going to be. 

Gold has maintained a fairly stable price over the years, whereas bitcoin has only existed since 2009 and it's not unheard of to drop in valuation by 50% or more in a very short time period.  I just don't think it'd be wise for governments to invest heavily in it.  Saylor is saying (without actually using the words) that countries should engage in currency speculation because they stand to make massive profits--but these are governments we're talking about!  The money they have is used for all types of public goods and services, and many countries just can't afford to gamble (there, I said it) on a cryptocurrency that's notorious for its stomach-wrenching price swings.

Great movie--but it's only a movie, and it's also a 50-year old one at that.  The Corleones were involved in criminal activities, not the least of which was murder, so it's not surprising that they tended to keep business discussions away from the dinner table.  In 1972, stocks weren't in a bull market either.  If you watch a movie like Boiler Room or even Wolf of Wall Street or TV shows like Billions, you'll see the exact opposite of what you see in The Godfather, where money is being discussed in bed, at the dinner table, on the couch, everywhere.  Times have changed.

And I'm pretty ignorant of culture in other countries, but I'd say money and the discussion thereof in the US is far more prominent than many other nations--or perhaps in a different context, e.g., discussing money as investment as opposed to talking about how to pay for daily necessities or whatever else.  And I think that's because right now Americans have more money than they know what to do with, which is in no small part because of all the cash that's been handed out by the government.  It's why Game Stop stock was pumped to the moon, it's why the stock market is in the upper atmosphere, and probably why bitcoin is sitting at $63k as I write this.

Plus Americans as a rule are greedy AF, there's no denying that.

Personally, I think getting a university education is important (unless you're an entrepreneurial genius like Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, and the like), but not all degrees are equal.  Some people major in subjects like history or psychology, and when they hit the workforce they suddenly find out that their four years of education doesn't really help them.  Majoring in one of the STEM field subjects is the way to go, but even getting a degree in business, accounting, or something that gives you a marketable skill is to your advantage.