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Tim
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Replying to Avatar allen

I don’t wanna get too ahead of myself but we may be about to see a major public reckoning on what on earth banks even are and what they are supposed to do.

SVB didn’t go down due to “the tech bubble” or really anything to do with “banking Silicon Valley” being a bad idea. if anything, it’s a great idea! Their deposits went up ~2.5x in 2 years because there was a shit load of cash that needed to be banked! (debate separately to what extent that was a ZIRP phenomenon. I’m not saying this was good in the grand scheme of things. just that, in context, it was good business).

the problem is what to put the money in. most nocoiners seem to think that their deposits just sit there “as money,” and although I’m sure they don’t imagine notes in a vault, exactly, to a large extent that was true for SVB: they held treasuries - the “risk free” asset lmfao - which is as close to cash as you can get in a liquid security.

the conundrum here is that there literally is no such thing as “liquid dollars” - there is only credit. all dollar assets are somebody else’s debt. for all intents and purposes, treasuries *are dollars*. the idea of “keeping it in cash” at the relevant magnitudes is literally nonsensical. what would it even mean? deposit it at *another bank*? that hardly solves the problem!

the further you tug at this thread, the more you realise that dollars can only really be defined as vacuous promises by the US government to … one day give you slightly more dollars?!? that realisation is now getting aired in public.

I think the first consequence as this starts to sink in will be a massive preference for shorter term debt that can just be rolled over and over and over because the lesson of SVB is the duration sensitivity is absolutely not worth it. you can literally evaporate hundreds of billions of dollars by getting that just a little wrong even though you didn’t have much of a choice (“RISK FREE ASSET” LOLOLOLOLOLOL) this is yet another example of fiat driving up time preference and corrupting the information signals necessary to coordinate long-term capital investment. but oh well, the currency is collapsing so we have bigger fish to fry than the yield of long-dated bonds 😂

but the juicy bit is that we may be on the cusp of this reasoning, and the insanity of fractional reserve and central banking, finally being aired in public as people try to make sense of all this.

or maybe not, I dunno. maybe I’m naive. but I’m also bullish 🤙

1. Most “money” is credit

2. The “US Dollar” is a ponzi

Replying to Not my name

I find it interesting that people simply dismiss the existential dread that creeps in around the age of 40 for many as just a silly “midlife crisis”.

I think we should pay more attention to the fact that, around the same age, many people finally get into a position where they have a little security and free time, often for the first time in their lives.

The “midlife crisis” that results is often the realization of how unbelievably fucked up our world is, and how much the system that defines it robs us of our liberty, productivity, youth, and joy.

The clever and singularly dismissive term “midlife crisis” is meant to diminish and ridicule those who remain in this state for too long. It’s a simple heuristic for those around the people in this state to remain blind and obedient to the system that enslaves them. It is also effective enough to make the person in “crisis” question themselves, and instead of getting angry at the system, they instead question themselves back into complacency.

Thinking for oneself is dangerous for our system after all. It must be avoided at all costs by keeping us distracted, depressed, fearful, and, most of all, productive for our masters (ideally) until we die.

There are many lies we are told to this end. That cheap products and experiences will enrich our lives, that religion and politics are important life choices, that we can’t be self sufficient, that our jobs should define us, that the longest life is the best one, that Fiat wealth is worth pursuing, and that bringing children into the world will provide us with some great purpose and happiness.

What simple but incredibly effective traps these are too. After all, it takes most of us about 40 years or so on average to even begin to spot them.

Happy thinking everyone.

#bitcoin

#midlifecrisis

#childfree

#grownostr

#plebs

what is the appropriate response to a “midlife crisis”? how would one avoid the traps you mention?

thanks. never thought random bitcoin knowledge would win me sats lol

or heres what it looks like on damus if youre on a different client

this puts my first channel of 10,000 sats to shame😂

it depends on the client. i think damus just added a twitter link renderer so it shows up as a little box at the bottom of your note. most other clients have something similar

Replying to Avatar Cassie

Gm

gm cassafrass