Imagine the government not printing money - "Notgeld"

[Kakmakr]

Well it happened.  

On July 31, 1914, three notes were issued by the Bürgerliches Brauhaus GmbH of Bremen. This was due to hoarding of coins by the population in the days before war was declared. The first period of "Notgeld" occurred through the end of 1914, and mostly ceased once the German Reichsbank made up for the shortage with issues of small denomination paper notes and coins of cheaper metal.

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notgeld

It is also called ... "emergency money" or "necessity money" and I think Bitcoin fall in the same category, because "Fiat" currencies are in a crisis and government issued money are losing value quicker than toilet paper. (actually... Toilet paper are becoming more expensive as a result of the over printing of Fiat currencies)

Ireland (1689–1691) had "Gun Money" and France had monnaie de nécessité during this period (1914–1927)

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notgeld

The thing is, these institutions printed money because there was a shortage of currency... but now we have a new emergency, which is the over printing of currency.   (devaluing our currency)

We (public) have to use our own new currency, called Bitcoin to protect our wealth and the value of our money.  

[Sterbens]

consequently, with the current level of excessive devaluation, it appears that the financial crisis is intensifying. Even though they only need to print more banknotes. However, the impact made the authenticity of banknotes less and less. take a look at Bitcoin, with its limited supply, making it even more expensive. Quite simply isn't it, that the existence of bitcoin has given us a choice, and with this choice we can multiply banknotes without having to come to the bank office every month just to save and receive interest deductions every month.

[Darker45]

It is also called ... "emergency money" or "necessity money" and I think Bitcoin fall in the same category, because "Fiat" currencies are in a crisis and government issued money are losing value quicker than toilet paper.

But Notgeld, the emergency or necessity money, is only being issued only because the central bank, for whatever reason/s, cannot provide the state money which comes from them. Today, it is not to be issued because our central banks can readily print as much money as they want, sky's the limit. And it is not like before when an economic crisis would weaken the central bank's power to create money. Today, an economic crisis would even serve as the primary reason itself for the central bank to print unlimited amount of money to be given away to whoever is close to their hearts.

[Ucy]

Interesting.

Excerpt from the Notgeld Wikipedia page:

Notgeld was mainly issued in the form of (paper) banknotes. Sometimes other forms were used, as well: coins , leather, silk , linen, wood , postage stamps , aluminium foil , coal , and porcelain; there are also reports of elemental sulfur being used, as well as all sorts of re-used paper and carton material (e.g. playing cards ). These pieces made from playing cards are extremely rare and are known as Spielkarten , the German word for "playing card". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notgeld

Interesting things they used as money.
I wonder if they ever had the problem of counterfeiting(creating fakes). That's one of the main problems that can ruin a currency.

[fiulpro]

Honestly If the government stops printing money, they would have to generate smaller and smaller denominations since with time the price will continue to rise and with no printing it would mean that people would need a system much like bitcoins. They can go digital and would be able to save a lot of denominations etc. But then again it would be a method only feasible for Nations who are well off therefore we cannot even being to pin point whom since during the pandemic it would be a disastrous situation. Rather what they should do is : Controller Printing
The more they print the lesser the value of every particular factor goes so these things go hand in hand 🧤 . Government needs more educated officials, there should be mandatory PHD or some higher degree in things they want to get elected for.

[ChrisPop]

Change is hard psychologically speaking. We have been accustomed to using fiat currencies for so many years that is now unimaginable for many people to use another form of payment.

However if the benefits encompass the comfort of using the same old method, we will witness a global paradigm shift. Heck, I think we have already started. Visa and Mastercard are both working to integrate crypto payments.

I don't know how governments are going to handle this. The obvious way would be to steadily accumulate Bitcoin as part of the treasury reserve, but some of them could get scared and temporarily ban it, but in the end no democratic entity can stop something that is seen as valuable by the majority of people.

[Harlot]

There is a big difference between that and the current situation. Before they have to print an "emergency money" because there was a shortage for one but now there is an abundance of supply of currencies and other payment methods such as credit cards and payment processors as well as cryptocurrencies so it really doesn't apply to this scenario where Bitcoin is some kind of secondary option when the fiat currency fails. Now you are saying that this will be our protection from inflation but the truth is cryptocurrencies are never protected with inflation as long as their value is based in fiat currencies they will always be affected by inflation.

[LUCKMCFLY]

The difference of Bitcoin and traditional money is that Bitcoin is limited to 21 million Bitcoins, this makes the scarcity of it produce more value, which results in a deflationary economy. Not fiat money, if it had a limitation of "No more printing" but rotating what there is would be a similar economy.

Now, that is why the Bitcoin economy always becomes more exciting when Bitcoins losses occur because the supply is limited, it would be reducing even more, this would increase demand and decrease supply. The game is great because it would enter with the Law of Supply and Demand.

In short, if the government did not print money, inflation would not exist, then the value of money would increase and its support, which is supposedly "gold", would be being valued more and more, and the reality is not like that because everything is based on Debt.

In a thread of our local section in Spanish within the forum there is a similar discussion where debt is discussed, where there are interesting points of view: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5179936.0

[Twentyonepaylots]

consequently, with the current level of excessive devaluation, it appears that the financial crisis is intensifying. Even though they only need to print more banknotes. However, the impact made the authenticity of banknotes less and less. take a look at Bitcoin, with its limited supply, making it even more expensive. Quite simply isn't it, that the existence of bitcoin has given us a choice, and with this choice we can multiply banknotes without having to come to the bank office every month just to save and receive interest deductions every month.

That's why fiat, if this continues and carries on in the next generation, will not survive. This happened in WW2 with Japan, where they overprinted money that you had to use a sack of it to buy 1 kilo of Rice in the Philippines at the time, and if history does repeat itself, it will come to a point where they will force it onto people to use their hyperinflated currency, to facilitate circulation and hope that it counteracts devaluation, which is preposterous since they basically put it on themselves.

[Ucy]

There is a big difference between that and the current situation. Before they have to print an "emergency money" because there was a shortage for one but now there is an abundance of supply of currencies and other payment methods such as credit cards and payment processors as well as cryptocurrencies so it really doesn't apply to this scenario where Bitcoin is some kind of secondary option when the fiat currency fails. Now you are saying that this will be our protection from inflation but the truth is cryptocurrencies are never protected with inflation as long as their value is based in fiat currencies they will always be affected by inflation.

You could as well do thesame thing today if a financial/currency system is badly mismanaged. Bitcoin was partly created as a response to financial crisis that was capable of badly affecting people's fiat currency value. And the creators did the right thing by making it decentralized and giving users the power to control their coins and decide how the network is run. The system basically gave power and control back to the people, which is how it should be.
 A good system/network will  have good principles/rules, and those representing the network are accountable to the people if they go against the network principles/rules
.

[Kittygalore]

There is a possibility where the government doesn't need to without going into crisis in order to do so, if they were to create a paper money that doesn't rot then there is a possibility that they don't have the need to print as the only way that those kind of money is lost is when they are burned or dissolved. Emergency is something to keep the morale high despite the tensions that the people are facing.

[Kakmakr]

I image a future scenario where "Private" institutions will be creating their own Alt coins and that it might replace the national currencies that are failing now. So you will have a JPCoin (JP Morgan) and a TeslaCoin (Tesla) etc.. etc. and these companies might compete with other companies to have the preferred coin.

A Central Bank will control the coin cap and the parameters and rules and regulations under which these Crypto currencies will exist. Why should taxpayers fund the manufacturing of Fiat currencies, if this can be done by the private sector at a fraction of the price.

Governments can then have their own National digital currency (GovCoin) as a anchor currency to trade in and out to these Alt coins. (They will always want to be in control of everything) 

[Snappycoco]

I agree. Saving your money in fiats while devaluing it is quite absurd. Humanity mist adopt from this hard times and try to cope up with technology.

[el kaka22]

That is sort of the reason why I went to bitcoin but not just because fiat became less valuable by printing it, that is the main reason of course, but the "sub-reason" if you will was something else. The fact that a lot of money is printed and most of it goes to companies is the main reason why I moved to bitcoin.

If governments printed money and distributed it equally to every single citizen, rich or poor, that would have been not a problem for me, why? Because even if prices increased, people would increase in networth together to be able to buy that, you can grow more and more expensive as long as everyone has the money for paying it. However we made sure that companies got a lot while regular people got absolutely nothing, that is why I believe bitcoin is much better since it is at least equal to all, sure rich people can buy 1 billion dollars worth of bitcoin and make more profit but we are all equals here.