2013-08-09 The Straight Dope - Is bitcoin the future of money?

[Foxpup]

Can't believe this hasn't been posted here yet.

www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3120/is-bitcoin-the-future-of-money

Bitcoin is a virtual currency, but that’s like saying computers add ones and zeros — you don’t get any sense of the complexity of the thing. I’ll give it a shot below. I should tell you my initial reaction was the bitcoin was an impossible techno fantasy that was certain to ruin anyone foolish enough to put their trust in it. But now I’d say there’s a chance it’ll become the Krugerrand of our times.

Overall, a better-than-average article, though it is surprising that the world's smartest human still believes deflation = evil.

[solex]

Agreed. Cecil must have had a blank moment. Perhaps an apple fell onto his head and he accidentally pasted a paragraph of utter bilgewater from a Krugman column he was reading for laughs a little earlier:

One of the strengths of bitcoins, namely that their quantity is limited, is also a weakness. The money supply has to grow more or less in proportion to the underlying economy lest we have deflation and depression. Regulating the money supply is why you need central bankers, feckless though they sometimes are. For that reason bitcoins as currently constituted will never replace government-backed money.

Cecil. Please delete this horseshit, as leaving it on your website could cause contagion and drop yours and your readers' IQs by 90 points!

[Dusty]

Cecil. Please delete this horseshit, as leaving it on your website could cause contagion and drop yours and your readers' IQs by 90 points!

+100

[Joerii]

God knows we all engage in transactions we’d just as soon no one knew about — arms trading, money laundering, or trafficking in endangered species and sex slaves. To the extent bitcoins become acceptable tender for everyday commerce, we can also avoid taxation, eventually transforming our overregulated society into a paradise like Greece.

Hahhaha good stuff

[J603]

Deflation is just as bad as inflation. Stability is what's best.

Although this is a fail:

One of the strengths of bitcoins, namely that their quantity is limited, is also a weakness. The money supply has to grow more or less in proportion to the underlying economy lest we have deflation and depression. Regulating the money supply is why you need central bankers, feckless though they sometimes are. For that reason bitcoins as currently constituted will never replace government-backed money

Money supply does "increase" with the bitcoin economy, as more and more decimals can be used.