Bitcoin Gets You Around the Resistor of Endless War
block #814295
synopsis
Recorded in the wake of the Israel-Palestine conflict escalation, Ian and Mandana deliver their most geopolitically charged episode. They discuss MicroStrategy as a company that will "live forever" because of its Bitcoin holdings, the Fourth Turning framework (weak men create hard times), war as a way to burn off inflation, Bitcoin as a check on the money-printing war machine, and Mandana's deeply personal reflections on gratitude as an immigrant. Ian argues Bitcoin gets you "around the resistor" that war puts on the global economy.
quotes
Ian: "With the Bitcoin that they bought, MicroStrategy is probably going to be a company that lives forever now."
Ian: "Bitcoin benefits from the acceleration of the money games that they play."
Mandana: "It is unnatural for us to know everything that's going on in the world."
Mandana: "Everything that they sacrificed for me, like now I get to just be with my husband and my baby at the farmer's market, having a lovely day."
Ian: "If you want to burn all of your Bitcoin to try to take a nibble out of Ukraine, by all means, go ahead. But there is a point where you will run out of money."
Ian: "They infiltrated us. This is not America."
topics
BlackRock ETF ticker (IBTC) and price impactMicroStrategy as a company that lives forever through BitcoinBitcoin ETF enabling button-click corporate Bitcoin acquisitionFourth Turning: "Strong men create good times, good times create weak men, weak men create hard times"War as inflation burn-off mechanism / distraction from economic problems"Age of nibbles"—countries taking territorial bites while US is distractedUS involved in Ukraine, Israel, Philippines commitment—only so many aircraft carriersBitcoin as a check on unlimited war spendingBitcoin gets you "around the resistor" of warDemocracy, the God That Failed (Hans-Hermann Hoppe)Making bread during economic anxietyMandana's immigrant gratitude and anti-interventionism