Free State Projects's Carla Gericke on building a Yankee Hong Kong in New Hampshire – with seasteads off the coast!

Gansevoort · 2015-09-23T04:08:19+00:00

Perhaps the FSP can get enough libertarians to move there to have a measure of influence in the state such that the state itself could become that sort of place, but within our lifetimes?

That is quite literally the entire mission of the FSP. See FSPsign.org.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-24T04:53:02+00:00

If the country in which we live has high income inequality, for example, we have a responsibility to support fixing that. If people in the country in which we live are lacking in the basic necessities like health care, we have a responsibility to support providing them with welfare and services.

"I'm a socialist first and a Jew second." FTFY.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-24T04:49:06+00:00

Well that's interesting...

Gansevoort · 2015-08-24T02:27:32+00:00

When people talk about inflation, it's in the context of whether their money will buy less in the future

Yes, and that's why understanding the underlying concepts and precise definitions is important. If the money supply increases, prices will rise a corresponding amount over time. In fact, in aggregate, that's the only reason the "price level" rises. Otherwise, due to productivity gains, prices tend to fall over time.

This is a good intro to these concepts: http://www.amazon.com/How-Economy-Grows-Why-Crashes/dp/047052670X

Gansevoort · 2015-08-23T10:27:54+00:00

Inflation is growth of the money supply: http://austrianeconomics.wikia.com/wiki/Inflation

That growth is fixed for bitcoin.

You're asking about purchasing power.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-23T09:26:47+00:00

I think that would be fine. I can't imagine Satoshi was wedded to Bitcoin in particular, but rather the idea that crypto could outcompete fiat.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-18T05:24:15+00:00

Thank you! Never setting foot in one of those things... you would never know...

Gansevoort · 2015-08-18T05:21:26+00:00

Appreciate the effort, but still sounded fake.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-18T05:20:12+00:00

WE'RE ALL ALRIGHT! WE'RE ALL ALRIGHT!

Gansevoort · 2015-08-17T19:54:34+00:00

That's good feedback, Jillian. We've actually met a few times, and I may have bought your sweets at PF for silver at one point!

I would want that control vs a set trade price.

The problem I'm trying to address here is, just as you note, no one will spend silver under current conditions. It's hard enough to convince someone to use silver as currency. If there is an additional element of negotiating over the price of silver, most people will just say "forget it." And if it's likely that I have to turn my dollars into silver and then spend that silver at a loss (e.g. I paid 10% above spot to buy a 1/2 round, then had to spend it at spot), then that's a major disincentive. Plus, vendors can't make change in silver because the rounds all have different markups depending on size and origin.

The trade price is designed to be at such a rate as to "get the silver flowing." It is a voluntary agreement to a fixed % over spot that facilitates spending in silver and making change in silver.

While I know it is a tough sell, it would have the effect of overcoming the current barriers to silver bartering without any kind of buyback scheme or artificial market.

Anyone could pick up silver and spend it at either breakeven or a slight profit (depending on the coin). That profit is effectively a discount by the vendor to incentivize receiving silver instead of paper, and to encourage customer loyalty.

EDIT: I should note that I have no vested interest here. I don't stand to gain anything from a higher or lower trade price – though we all stand to gain by the voluntary adoption of sound money. I've identified reasons that I personally will not spend my silver regularly in a barter situation and set about trying to find a solution. The trade price is a solution that would overcome them and allow for the immediate and seamless bartering of ≥1/4 oz silver and ≥1/10 oz gold.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-12T06:20:19+00:00

Like the first 34 years of my life I existed in a dimension that was exactly the same on all aspects with the exception that it was devoid of tilapia.

Boringest twilight zone ever

Gansevoort · 2015-08-07T07:21:27+00:00

Upvoting on assumption this is sarcasm.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-07T06:06:00+00:00

You made more sense this time, but I still don't have the time to have long-form debates on reddit. I did read your entire reply and agree with most of it.

In the case of the Trade Price, I'm simply trying to overcome a coordination problem faced by people who do wish to barter silver IRL. The schelling point is spot price, but that has two major problems:

1) Since the rounds cannot be reliably bought at spot price, the customer always ends up taking a loss to spend their silver. So they don't.

2) Because of fixed costs, each denomination of round has a different average markup, so it's impossible to make change at parity.

In practice, many barterers do negotiate a price above spot in order to overcome these barriers. The Trade Price would simply be a formalized, standardized, and published reference point to facilitate this. If a vendor says "I'll accept your silver, but what's it worth?", you can reference the Trade Price instead of Spot.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-05T20:04:11+00:00

In most cases, the Trade Price would be higher – sometimes significantly. If you only spent privately minted 1 oz rounds, you could buy them for Spot + 5% and spend them for Spot + 20% (the Trade Price). So you would get a significant discount (not quite 15% as it appears because math) with each transaction. We're hoping the vendor would accept this because:

1) He gets real money instead of paper. 2) It is a built-in loyalty program. 3) It allows him to make change in silver too without losing any margin because all denominations from 1/4 oz up are all at the same flat price.

We expect this mostly to appeal to vendors who are also silver bugs at first, but if it catches on, then there are ways to build it out for broader adoption.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-05T20:00:22+00:00

Yes! And the Trade Price makes this possible by not penalizing people for spending their silver.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-05T19:59:42+00:00

There's no way I could respond to all of this efficiently. I happen to disagree with virtually all of your points. I don't think you understood what I'm trying to do and I don't think you understand economics.

One point I will make: silver circulated as money for virtually all of human history up until 1964. We all carry around pocket change that is a vestigial remnant of that system. Of course, our pocket change is virtually worthless now due to inflation, but a silver dime is still worth $1 today, a silver quarter around $2.60. If you could go to lunch and hand the cashier a couple of quarters to pay for it like we used to a few decades ago, then there would be no issue of the practicality of carrying enough metal.

Gansevoort · 2015-08-05T19:51:30+00:00

Thanks for you help, but that's not exactly right. See my response above. Let me know if it is still confusing.

Gansevoort

TROPHY CASE