Bitcoin Tech Talk #327

Jan 16, 2023

∙ Paid

Rome Currency Debasement 4th-5th Centuries - Historians almost always explain Roman Empire’s collapse on anything but the actual reason, which is the monetary debasement and excess government spending that caused it. This article is thorough and goes through the many different emperors’ attempts at financial alchemy through laws, violence and debasement. It’s really sad how little we know of the monetary causes of decline.
How People Think - Really, this is an article on cognitive biases and some good examples of these. If you can understand these points, you can use them as filters on how people perceive the world to get at the truth. Generally, good things come from hard work and virtue, bad things come from trying to cheat the system. It’s a long, but challenging read to examine your own biases.
Pentagon’s Accounting Fraud - Verify, don’t trust. This is a good example of why. So much of the Pentagon’s budget is cloaked in secrecy that much of it goes toward Cantillionaires that we have no clue about. Privacy is a right that individuals should have and public institutions should not. Yet the reverse is practiced in the name of security. I came away from the article demanding that we should audit the Defense Department the same way we should audit the Fed.

What I'm up to

Lebanon - I have finished a week in this wonderful country. Beirut has fast become one of the top 3 cities I’ve visited. Absolutely gorgeous place with pleasant weather, smart people and classic architecture. It’s just too bad that the place has been debased through fiat money printing. Most street lights are dark, cell phone service is expensive and trash services literally stink. Governments can ruin anything. As you might expect, there’s a strong Bitcoin community here for those that are inclined to travel.
Egypt - I’m headed next to Egypt to see some of the most ancient sites in the world! Interestingly, this place is also currently being debased by fiat money printing, the latest machination being the central bank revaluing the currency to be nearer to the black market rate. One of the interesting patterns I’ve noticed is that many of these inflating countries raise the public employee wages frequently, causing a lot of money to enter the economy. The effect seems to be a much more immediate inflation than, say lending more money to banks and hedge funds.
Christianity in the Middle East - One of the most interesting parts of being in the MENA region is the religious aspect. These are some of the holiest sites in the world for Christians, but these are also areas with majority Muslim/Arab populations. What I’ve noticed is that there’s a significant Christian minority in many of these places, often originating from the beginning of Christianity itself.

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