{"id":5981,"date":"2022-11-20T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci02b07b7ea00025f0"},"modified":"2022-11-20T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T01:00:00","slug":"money-relationship-helps-understand-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/culture\/money-relationship-helps-understand-bitcoin","title":{"rendered":"Our Relationship To Money Helps Us Understand Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is an opinion editorial by Mark Maraia, an entrepreneur, author of \u201cRainmaking Made Simple\u201d and a Bitcoiner.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Is Your Relationship To Money?\u201d<\/h2>\n

I\u2019d argue that\u2019s a more intimate question for many than \u201cAre you happily married?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure most readers have never thought deeply about their relationship to money. Those raised with a scarcity mindset will never have enough. This is usually learned from parents and family at a very young age. It is also reinforced by fiat. If you are losing 7.7% of your purchasing power<\/a> every year, you are likely to foment a mindset of scarcity. Those raised with or those who cultivated an abundance mindset were programmed differently. Either way, your mindset around and about money is ultimately a choice; you can alter or rewrite the program. For some people, this is easy. For others, it\u2019s nearly impossible. And there are people who have plenty of money, but still aren\u2019t happy.<\/p>\n

In our modern world, there are many who believe that money is essential to life. There are some who go overboard and idolize money. They worship making it and they worship the people who make lots of it. If you have or earn ample amounts of money, count your blessings. A man or woman who has few needs lives more freely and abundantly than the rest.<\/p>\n

Most of us have a special \u2014 often invisible or unexamined \u2014 relationship to money. For some, it gives them their whole reason for being in this world, while for others it\u2019s a means to an end. As we observe events like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s freezing of Canadian truckers\u2019 bank accounts<\/a> or Biden\u2019s theft of Russian reserves<\/a>, we start to realize some chilling realities about the nature of money. If you don\u2019t have physical possession of the monetary asset, all you have is an IOU, and that IOU is very tenuous if the ruling authorities decide your words or actions don\u2019t comport with their worldview. Usually, the IOU is from the bank or credit union where you have deposited \u201cyour\u201d money. The only thing is: It\u2019s not \u201cyour\u201d money once it\u2019s deposited into the bank. <\/p>\n

Bitcoiners are fond of saying, \u201cNot your keys, not your coins.\u201d What many people who aren\u2019t Bitcoiners don\u2019t stop to consider is that the money in their bank account isn\u2019t really theirs. Zoltan Pozsar, global head of short-term interest rate strategy at Credit Suisse, makes the case<\/a> that we\u2019ve entered a new era of Bretton Woods III, which involves inside money and outside money and claims that commodities will underlie international monetary affairs. Inside money is money which has a middleman, such as a bank. All the money that you hold is essentially an IOU. Outside money is money that is outside of the banking system. It cannot be taken from you through denying you access to an account, nor can they inflate it away.<\/p>\n

Money you earn for the work you do is proof of work. If you\u2019re fortunate, you earn more than you need for everyday living. In the paper money era, that meant you traded your precious time, labor and life energy for green paper strips and little metal disks. Today you trade your precious time, labor and life energy for pixels on a computer screen. When viewed through that lens, one begins to realize that money is just a symbol. If all we have is an IOU with a bank, all kinds of mischief is possible from governments and banks. This may include bailouts, bail-ins and outright theft. This is deeply troubling. Our reliance on state-issued currencies means our wealth can be confiscated with a keystroke or the stroke of a pen.<\/p>\n

The question at the outset can be further broken down into two very important and personal questions: <\/em><\/p>\n

What Is Your Relationship To The U.S. Dollar? <\/h3>\n

I grew up very fortunate. I lived in a home that always had food on the table, a roof over our heads and the privilege of not having to ever worry about money. A classic middle-class upbringing through high school. I went to a public school and a private college, where I paid for half my education and worked as a professional once I got out of school. <\/p>\n

I was so fortunate to grow up never really thinking much about money. It was low on my list of priorities and remains that way to this day. I rarely worried about having enough and generally took money for granted. Yes, in the early days of my career, I lived paycheck-to-paycheck, but I had savings \u2014 modest though they were \u2014 and parents who were a financial backstop. A family banker of last resort, as it were. <\/p>\n

That upbringing was both a blessing and a curse. Why a curse? Because I never gave money much thought. Aside from the unspoken values my parents modeled, I was never taught about money, our banking system or our financial system. Those of us living in the U.S. enjoy the additional privilege of having the world\u2019s reserve currency in our pocket. That privilege is one most Americans take for granted.<\/p>\n

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It's crazy that for many people in the world in 2022, this is not a thought experiment.<\/p>\n

It is a real, productivity-destroying friction.<\/p>\n

— Lyn Alden (@LynAldenContact) November 14, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n