Worker real earnings stopped trending with productivity improvements the second we went off the gold standard. Part of me wonders if the market could opt back into the gold standard without asking the government for permission. Digital gold currencies exist that are about as convenient as any card transaction, if people are set up for it. But stores don't have the setup, and consumers don't universally have the currency. Herd mentality exists. But if we had a smarter herd, it would intelligently select a currency that produces a better situation for itself.
But convincing people might require explaining why, which involves some controversial monetary theory concepts that establishment economists don't want others, or even themselves to understand. And you aren't going to convince 90% of people to do something that is immediately inconvenient because of some autistic arguments about the specific mechanics of how the Fed controls interest rates. And 5 layers of analysis later, you end up poorer and working harder.
That or maybe the empirical argument is enough. We went off the gold standard, and then all the graphs say that in an instant, things started trending worse for workers. Therefore, the gold standard is good. Therefore, you are acting on your group interest to try to force the use of gold-based currencies and encourage others to do it with you in concert. The temporary inconveniences caused by network effects are temporary if people actually pushed together and we got the payment infrastructure in. Then we'd not have that inconvenience and we'd have an economy where technical improvements actually benefit us.
But how do we make herd intelligence actually work?
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Worker real earnings stopped trending with productivity improvements the second we went off the gold standard. Part of me wonders if the market could opt back into the gold standard without asking the government for permission. Digital gold currencies exist that are about as convenient as any card transaction, if people are set up for it. But stores don't have the setup, and consumers don't universally have the currency. Herd mentality exists. But if we had a smarter herd, it would intelligently select a currency that produces a better situation for itself.
But convincing people might require explaining why, which involves some controversial monetary theory concepts that establishment economists don't want others, or even themselves to understand. And you aren't going to convince 90% of people to do something that is immediately inconvenient because of some autistic arguments about the specific mechanics of how the Fed controls interest rates. And 5 layers of analysis later, you end up poorer and working harder.
That or maybe the empirical argument is enough. We went off the gold standard, and then all the graphs say that in an instant, things started trending worse for workers. Therefore, the gold standard is good. Therefore, you are acting on your group interest to try to force the use of gold-based currencies and encourage others to do it with you in concert. The temporary inconveniences caused by network effects are temporary if people actually pushed together and we got the payment infrastructure in. Then we'd not have that inconvenience and we'd have an economy where technical improvements actually benefit us.
But how do we make herd intelligence actually work?