You’re still not seeing it. You are leader of country A, with a pure bitcoin standard. Every transaction is p2p. No raising of tax, therefore no government, is possible.

I am leader of country B. I have fiat money. I print fiat money to raise a military, and invade your country, killing all the men and enslaving the women and children.

Actually you could argue this is what has actually happened. The west has been better at collecting taxes from its people, therefore has had a better army, therefore uses that military strength internationally to its advantage.

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Printing money doenst create wealth. it only destroys wealth. The current U.S. empire can only print because it built its power and might on a hard money standard (gold) during the 1800s and all the way through to WW2. During this era, the U.S. became an economic and industrial super power precisely because there was limited role of govnermnet, limited taxes, and free markets. There was no income tax in the U.S., it was only introduced in 1913 after the formation of the Federal Reserve. Your hypothetical country B is the U.S. empire in its current stage. Living off the glory of its great founding fathers and early pioneers. This generation of bafoons are accelerating the demise of empire through currency debasement, excessive taxation and over regulation. Exactly the opposite of what made them a superpower.