[codedokode]

It's rate is not arbitrary, it is maintained at specific level, as they say, for better economy development. But it is unclear whether you will win from that or somebody else, what is certain that you lose money every year because of this. You had 100 dollars and year later they are only worth 98 dollars. What is it if not stealing?

[latchkey]

Those 100 are worth less, not because it was stolen, but because it was devalued / diluted through minting of more magic beans.

Not all loss is theft.

[codedokode]

So, by printing money the government takes money from citizens' pockets. Cryptocurrency is protected from this by design.

[latchkey]

No, by printing money, the government dilutes/devalues the money they already have. You still have 100 dollars. Theft would be that you have 98 dollars.

Converting dollars into something that isn't dollars, which doesn't get you as much of that something, is a different concept. It is the value of the dollar is lower.

> Cryptocurrency is protected from this by design.

Not really.

Today, bitcoin dilutes holders through inflation tied to securing the network. Eventually, that inflation will end, but not in some of our lifetimes. Ethereum was inflationary but is now deflationary thanks to burning of transaction fees and the switch to PoS. The tokenomics of all chains can be changed over time, even bitcoin. It requires a fork of the chain that everyone follows. When inflation for bitcoin ends, I could envision miners agreeing on a fork that better protects their interests.

[codedokode]

> No, by printing money, the government dilutes/devalues the money they already have. You still have 100 dollars. Theft would be that you have 98 dollars.

No, I cannot agree with you. If I had 100 dollars and then the government devalued them so that they are worth 98 old dollars then how is it different from taking 2 dollars out of my pocket? It is the same thing just called the other name. Of course, the government won't use words like "take out of the pocket" or "rob", they have scientific names for that like "monetary policy".

[latchkey]

What is “worth 98 old dollars”?

What you’re complaining about is the price of 12 eggs going up by $2.

It isn’t that you now have $98. It is that eggs are more expensive.

Of course the solution to that, is to print more eggs.

Part of the reason why inflation rarely goes down.

[codedokode]

Let's put the eggs aside. The government determines an inflation target and tries to control the inflation (e.g. by changing interest rates, buying or selling securities etc). So why not set the target to 0%?

For example, this site [1] states that in recent years the inflation in Japan was about 0% on average. This proves that it is possible to keep inflation around zero. Maybe it is because Japanese government unlike Western ones has respect for hard-earned money of its citizens. It seems that Japanese government doesn't put its hands into citizens' pockets.

I have also read this article [2] but it offers no explanation for outstanding stability of Japanese economy.

[1] https://www.worlddata.info/asia/japan/inflation-rates.php

[2] https://hbr.org/2022/12/what-causes-inflation