TheOneWithAReallyLongName on Nostr: Okay, that actually sounds like a reasonable distinction to make. I'd agree that'd ...
Okay, that actually sounds like a reasonable distinction to make. I'd agree that'd constitute some new system if that was all there was to it, but I don't think it's fully correct here. The important distinction, I think, is who gets close to the money printer and how.
It comes down to how a self interested actor with access to the money printer will behave. They'll seek to enrich themselves, which means using the printer for their own good. They can't get away with just printing money for themselves, so they have to resort to allocating the printed money to someone with the capacity to reward them. They're unlikely to receive much extra power while maintaining power over the printer, so they'll mostly pursue financial rewards. This means allocating the printed money to people who have the capacity to reward them handsomely. In effect, those who receive the free rewards are those who already have resources free to reward the printer, and they receive those rewards as a direct and exclusive result of the resources they already hold. So ultimately, they're still generating as a result of resources they already own.
This is why I see fiat as simply an augmentation of the powers of the ruling class in whatever system it operates under, NOT a wholly new system. If we lived under a feudal system, the free rewards would all go to royalty and their vassals. If it was idealistic communism (i.e., that wasn't captured by authoritarians, which is very unlikely), it'd be used to secure the needs and wants of the people. None of these radically change the structure of the systems that fiat occurs under, it just bestows additional free rewards to whoever is in the uppermost class
It comes down to how a self interested actor with access to the money printer will behave. They'll seek to enrich themselves, which means using the printer for their own good. They can't get away with just printing money for themselves, so they have to resort to allocating the printed money to someone with the capacity to reward them. They're unlikely to receive much extra power while maintaining power over the printer, so they'll mostly pursue financial rewards. This means allocating the printed money to people who have the capacity to reward them handsomely. In effect, those who receive the free rewards are those who already have resources free to reward the printer, and they receive those rewards as a direct and exclusive result of the resources they already hold. So ultimately, they're still generating as a result of resources they already own.
This is why I see fiat as simply an augmentation of the powers of the ruling class in whatever system it operates under, NOT a wholly new system. If we lived under a feudal system, the free rewards would all go to royalty and their vassals. If it was idealistic communism (i.e., that wasn't captured by authoritarians, which is very unlikely), it'd be used to secure the needs and wants of the people. None of these radically change the structure of the systems that fiat occurs under, it just bestows additional free rewards to whoever is in the uppermost class