[ivalm]

Inflation (at levels that it happens in developed countries) is good, as it forces people to spend on goods and services or invest in productive enterprises. It is actively bad for the society if one can just sit on money.

Taxation is as voluntary as it can be in democracy given that you elect the government which sets the rate and then pay into commons. You can’t rely on purely voluntary contribution as then people would simply not contribute. Society gets into tragedy of the commons all the time where the global optimum requires contributions that are locally disavantageous, this is why we must have contribution to commons.

[jackt89]

You will have your money's value stolen from you through inflation. You will be forced to consume. And you will be happy.

[ivalm]

Society grows through investment. This comes either through capital inflow or consumption, and honestly success of the US lies in the “consumption.” It’s the thing that brought so much convenience and material well-being to our lives. So “consume and be happy” is unironically true. In as much as the entire concept of money is purely intersubjective we should shape it for societal good.

Again, you won’t lose real value if you keep your money invested (and for example do TIPS if you want low risk).

[ghostwriter]

> Society grows through investment. This comes either through capital inflow or consumption

Society grows through production. People invest their time and effort in the first place, not money. Consumption is the final non-efficient cause of production. The efficient cause is savings, which represent unconsumed goods and values. Consumption is the end of production, a dead end, as far as the productive process is concerned.

[imtringued]

Does a rotting apple steal itself from you? Maybe you should think about eating it before it spoils? Ever thought about how human labor cannot be stored and money is basically a labor coupon via debt? Alternatively, if you truly insist on maintaining value, then you should try to buy the most durable good you can get your hands on because human labor spoils very quickly during unemployment.

>You will be forced to consume. And you will be happy.

That's literally how the damn economy works. If you don't want to buy anything or save in real assets then why the hell did you work for the money? Have you thought about working less instead of piling up green pieces of paper? Money that is saved cannot be earned by other people, it's that simple. It doesn't drive investment or business activity, it's just dead money doing nothing.

[elvatoloco55]

Oh so savings is dead money doing nothing? How about you make something that is worthwhile to invest in? How about we save up to produce capital goods instead of fueling consumption for no reason?

The main purpose of money is saving. That's hard to do since they steal it from you if you do that.

Keynesian economics has done so much damage to people and the world.

[lottin]

How do you explain the trillions of dollars invested in global stock markets and elsewhere, if people are forced to consume?