[Analemma_]

> Hyperinflation is real

For all practical purposes, it really isn't. Hyperinflation is a boogeyman used by deficit hawks and Bitcoin supporters to scare people into supporting their way of thinking without providing real arguments.

Think about it: people talk as though hyperinflation is always just around the corner, waiting to pounce at the slightest misstep. But in the last century, through all the ups and downs of the economic cycle, amounting to thousands of "country-years", how many instances of hyperinflation (other than countries totally destroyed by war) have there been? The answer is: three. Weimar Germany, Zimbabwe, and Yugoslavia. Don't you think it would be more frequent if it was really such a serious threat?

And none of those three examples are even really relevant. Germany's hyperinflation happened when we had a pre-modern grasp of monetary theory, and Zanzibar and Yugoslavia were both ruled by ignorant despots. I'm just gonna come out and say it: in a modern country with even a marginally competent central bank (which we have, whether you want to admit it or not), hyperinflation cannot happen; it is a myth.

> bank runs are real

Have there been any bank runs in the developed world in the last half-century where people actually lost their deposits? Again, a government with even the minimum amount of competence to institute deposit insurance makes it not an issue.

> Bitcoin never fails an audit

Only for a uselessly narrow definition of "Bitcoin". The protocol itself, sure, but for almost every company that actually does business in Bitcoin, it's a different story. Every Bitcoin exchange either has gone bust or will, most Bitcoin mining companies are scams that only ship once the difficulty has increased to the point where the hardware is no longer useful, etc.

[Beejeepa]

The US Dollar lost half its value in my short lifetime. Most other currencies have done worse. At a time when the US Dollar is falling in significance as a global reserve currency, and a central bank holding ~$4.5 trillion in assets, you have no doubts?

I understand SHA-256 and ECC; they are easy to trust and more trustworthy than authority. Bitcoin is the most simple thing that could possibly work; and it meets "worse is better" criteria.

What backs FDIC insurance? A haircut, or printed money?

[Analemma_]

> The US Dollar lost half its value in my short lifetime. Most other currencies have done worse.

You are describing ordinary inflation, and using the word "hyperinflation" to make it sound scarier than it is. That is FUD. And "lost half its value" completely ignores the fact that nominal wages have increased at the same time. Please don't use this first-grade nonsense on Hacker News, you're talking to intelligent people here.

> At a time when the US Dollar is falling in significance as a global reserve currency, and a central bank holding ~$4.5 trillion in assets, you have no doubts?

The US dollar is falling in significance as a global reserve currency, being replaced by... the fiat currencies of other nations. How does this prove the ascendancy of Bitcoin?

> I understand SHA-256 and ECC; they are easy to trust and more trustworthy than authority.

You did not read my previous post. Bitcoin itself it perfectly fine, but it is too low-level to use for most practical transactions, you need to build layers of abstraction (futures, exchanges, wallets) on top of it. These are mostly run by companies that are either extremely shady, have terrible security, or both.

> What backs FDIC insurance? A haircut, or printed money?

A large insurance fund paid for by bank taxes, as even a few minutes of research would tell you.

There are good arguments in favor of Bitcoin, but I want you to understand that when its defenders routinely trot out the same easily-disproven cookie-cutter arguments repeated on autopilot, it becomes very easy for people not to take you seriously.

[Beejeepa]

There is no such thing as a free lunch. FDIC insurance can and will fail in the largest bank run ever.

Banking is a Prisoner's Dilemma, because the first ones to escape get their cash, the middle ones deal with insurance, and the last ones lose everything.

Use always-audited Bitcoin. Readers here have an advantage of being able to understand the underlying technology.

[oreo81]

>for all practical purposes, it really isn't.

Venezuela would like to have a word.

[colordrops]

What about megainflation? Or superinflation? I know the cost of medical, housing, and education has gone up an order of magnitude where I live in Los Angeles in the last 20 years.

[AlexMax]

The timescales involved are much larger, giving you ample time to spend or invest the money you have. It's only a problem if you stuff money under your mattress.

[colordrops]

I'm not convinced. I don't think it's reasonable to expect every single person to be an investor in anything other than sensible necessities, such as education and property, in order to live a comfortable life. Quantitative easing as a mechanism for stimulating growth is nothing but theft from the non-investor class. I haven't "stuffed money under my mattress" and I'm struggling to not go into debt living in L.A. as an engineer of 20 years even though my salary is in the top 10% percentile for my experience and title. That's absurd. The house I'm renting doubled in value in the last 4 years. My income is going up slower than housing prices, so I've missed the boat, and will not be able to buy a house unless I move. Inflation has had a real and significant impact on my life.

[AlexMax]

I don't think wage stagnation has much to do with inflation. If the USD stayed steady or was deflationary, I imagine that nothing about your purchasing power would fundamentally change, the numbers would just look a little different.

[Beejeepa]

This is correct.