The fiat system is responsible for not only bad financial practices and mountains of debt but also distorted incentives on personal and professional levels, according to Jimmy Song, Bitcoin Developer, Author, Educator and Entrepreneur.
In his new book, 'Fiat Ruins Everything: How Our Financial System Is Rigged and How Bitcoin Fixes It,' Song dives into the fiat system and its pitfalls.
Song makes the case that the debasement of our money is the root of many of our problems and that the system of central banking has, in a way, “enslaved” us.
Song writes, “Like a zombie master, central banks have turned every organization into its slave, and much of civilization now lives a zombie-like existence. This is the debasement you’ve been feeling your whole life, the reason why everything seems to be slowly deteriorating.”
Song maintains that fiat has ruined everything from the economy to policies to relationships to family to art.
"Fiat money and the system of central banking is allowed to put new money into existence," Song told Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News, on the sidelines of the Pacific Bitcoin Festival. "And the existence of somebody that can do that changes the incentives all over the place. In our personal lives, we don't have savings vehicles anymore, so that changes our behaviour."
Song broke down his argument, starting with governments being in charge of printing money to prolong their stay in power.
"Governments can print money to buy votes to essentially prolong their power. That leads to a lot of distorted incentives. And at the global level, the U.S. has the ability to print the world's reserve currency. And that means it is dominant in foreign affairs," he said.
Song makes a compelling argument on how the fiat system impacts and distorts our daily lives. Watch the video above for details.
Money debasement
Inflation and currency debasement create a population that is focused on consumerism versus sound money spending, Song pointed out.
"The debasement of money causes you to want to spend it rather than save it because saving it is a lot of work. In order to keep the value that you have, you have to put a lot of time and energy into investments, savings vehicles, and maintaining those investments," he explained. "That's a lot of time, effort, and energy taken away from pursuing something more fruitful, like providing value to other people through the market process of providing goods and services."
This is how society ends up preferring short-term consumption versus long-term goals. The consequences of this could be dire, especially when it comes to civilizational progress. Watch the video above to get the full take.
Prior to the modern-day fiat currency, there was a gold standard, which served people better. However, one of its downfalls was centralization, Song added. For more details on what worked and what didn't under the gold standard, watch the video above.
Song argues for the sound money standard, noting that if Bitcoin is adopted on a large scale, it could fix the global issues the fiat system created.
"What fiat money lets you do is suspend reality. You can certainly see that with some of the zombie companies that exist today. The more money you inject, the longer they can live, even though they really should be dead," Song said. "Fiat must be destroyed to preserve civilization."
Market Analysis
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Song argues for the sound money standard, noting that if Bitcoin is adopted on a large scale, it could fix the global issues the fiat system created.