This weekly roundup thread is intended for all culture war posts. 'Culture war' is vaguely defined, but it basically means controversial issues that fall along set tribal lines. Arguments over culture war issues generate a lot of heat and little light, and few deeply entrenched people ever change their minds. This thread is for voicing opinions and analyzing the state of the discussion while trying to optimize for light over heat.
Optimistically, we think that engaging with people you disagree with is worth your time, and so is being nice! Pessimistically, there are many dynamics that can lead discussions on Culture War topics to become unproductive. There's a human tendency to divide along tribal lines, praising your ingroup and vilifying your outgroup - and if you think you find it easy to criticize your ingroup, then it may be that your outgroup is not who you think it is. Extremists with opposing positions can feed off each other, highlighting each other's worst points to justify their own angry rhetoric, which becomes in turn a new example of bad behavior for the other side to highlight.
We would like to avoid these negative dynamics. Accordingly, we ask that you do not use this thread for waging the Culture War. Examples of waging the Culture War:
-
Shaming.
-
Attempting to 'build consensus' or enforce ideological conformity.
-
Making sweeping generalizations to vilify a group you dislike.
-
Recruiting for a cause.
-
Posting links that could be summarized as 'Boo outgroup!' Basically, if your content is 'Can you believe what Those People did this week?' then you should either refrain from posting, or do some very patient work to contextualize and/or steel-man the relevant viewpoint.
In general, you should argue to understand, not to win. This thread is not territory to be claimed by one group or another; indeed, the aim is to have many different viewpoints represented here. Thus, we also ask that you follow some guidelines:
-
Speak plainly. Avoid sarcasm and mockery. When disagreeing with someone, state your objections explicitly.
-
Be as precise and charitable as you can. Don't paraphrase unflatteringly.
-
Don't imply that someone said something they did not say, even if you think it follows from what they said.
-
Write like everyone is reading and you want them to be included in the discussion.
On an ad hoc basis, the mods will try to compile a list of the best posts/comments from the previous week, posted in Quality Contribution threads and archived at /r/TheThread. You may nominate a comment for this list by clicking on 'report' at the bottom of the post and typing 'Actually a quality contribution' as the report reason.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Does it though?
The value of the dollar comes from our belief that it has value, primarily. Also because people have debts denominated in dollars and need them to pay those debts down, including foreign entities in the offshore dollar market or 'eurodollar system'. The US dollar is the global reserve currency and so USD is always in demand for international trade. Part of the issue we have today is the opacity of offshore dollar markets and the distortion of price signals due to all the international demand for dollars, as observed in the recent volatility in currency markets.
When people say 'print' money, what they really mean is borrow. The confusion -- and apparent ignorance about the effects of government borrowing -- comes from the trends in interest rates over the past 2 decades, namely being so low that interest on debt has been basically negligible. That is just starting to change as more debt gets refinanced at current rates which have risen rapidly this year. If rates stay elevated for some time, the government interest expense is going to be a problem.
Central banks are exploring CBDCs for the reason you describe, more direct control over the money supply. Multiplying balances by a constant is unfair if the value is greater than one, enriching the wealthy exacerbating inequality. If the value is less than one, you are basically implementing a flat wealth tax.
The objection is, can you trust the government with that level of surveillance and control?
More options
Context Copy link