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The Fiat Standard: Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization
In The Fiat Standard, world-renowned economist Saifedean Ammous applies his unique analytical lens to the fiat monetary system, explaining it as a feat of engineering and technology just as he did for bitcoin in his global bestseller The Bitcoin Standard.
This time, Ammous delves into the world's earlier shift from the gold standard to today's system of government-backed fiat money—outlining the fiat standard's purposes and failures; deriving the wider economic, political, and social implications of its use; and examining how bitcoin will affect it over time.
With penetrating insight, Ammous analyzes global political currencies by analogy to how they're "mined" whenever government-guaranteed entities create loans, their lack of inherent restraints on inflation, and the rampant government intervention that has resulted in heavy, devastating, and persistent distortions to global markets for food, fuel, science, and education.
Through these comparisons, Ammous demonstrates that bitcoin could be our next step forward—providing high salability across space, just like the fiat system, but without the unchecked fiat-denominated debt. Rather than a messy hyperinflationary collapse, the rise of bitcoin could look like a debt jubilee and an orderly upgrade to the world's monetary operating system, revolutionizing global capital and energy markets.
This time, Ammous delves into the world's earlier shift from the gold standard to today's system of government-backed fiat money—outlining the fiat standard's purposes and failures; deriving the wider economic, political, and social implications of its use; and examining how bitcoin will affect it over time.
With penetrating insight, Ammous analyzes global political currencies by analogy to how they're "mined" whenever government-guaranteed entities create loans, their lack of inherent restraints on inflation, and the rampant government intervention that has resulted in heavy, devastating, and persistent distortions to global markets for food, fuel, science, and education.
Through these comparisons, Ammous demonstrates that bitcoin could be our next step forward—providing high salability across space, just like the fiat system, but without the unchecked fiat-denominated debt. Rather than a messy hyperinflationary collapse, the rise of bitcoin could look like a debt jubilee and an orderly upgrade to the world's monetary operating system, revolutionizing global capital and energy markets.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 10, 2024
605 people are currently reading
3,900 people want to read
About the author
Saifedean Ammous
15 books542 followersSaifedean Ammous is an internationally best-selling author and economist. In 2018, Ammous authored The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking, the best-selling book on bitcoin, published in 36 languages. In 2021, he published The Fiat Standard: The Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization, available in 12 languages. In 2023, he published Principles of Economics, a comprehensive introduction to economics in the Austrian school tradition. Saifedean teaches courses on the economics of bitcoin, and economics in the Austrian school tradition, on his online learning platform Saifedean.com, and also hosts The Bitcoin Standard Podcast.
Saifedean was a professor of Economics at the Lebanese American University from 2009 to 2019. He holds a PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University, a Masters in Development Management from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
Saifedean was a professor of Economics at the Lebanese American University from 2009 to 2019. He holds a PhD in Sustainable Development from Columbia University, a Masters in Development Management from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
July 3, 2023
This is one of the worst books I have read in the last few years. The first 15%, where the author explains the financial system and the transition from the gold standard to the fiat standard, is okay. However, when he delves into other topics, it loses all sense and becomes a mixture of negationism and misleading information.
If you read this book, make sure you understand each topic mentioned, such as diet, global warming, fossil fuels, etc. The author talks about these topics with limited and distorted information, and from 40% onwards, the book changes its language to hate speech and becomes very hard to read and reason about.
Make sure you do your research when reading this book. I am in favor of crypto. I have nothing against different political views, but in this book, it seems like the author goes beyond their area to use things to back up his view, and most of them are distorted.
If you read this book, make sure you understand each topic mentioned, such as diet, global warming, fossil fuels, etc. The author talks about these topics with limited and distorted information, and from 40% onwards, the book changes its language to hate speech and becomes very hard to read and reason about.
Make sure you do your research when reading this book. I am in favor of crypto. I have nothing against different political views, but in this book, it seems like the author goes beyond their area to use things to back up his view, and most of them are distorted.
October 29, 2021
The best book I’ve read so far on the economic and societal implications of a global fiat standard, based on the US Dollar as global reserve currency. The book entails an accurate description of fiat dynamics viewed from the lense of Austrian economics. Particularly interesting to me, were the benefits of a monetary standard with solely a few or even a single global currencies, which obliterates the global FX currency speculation market. Even though Saifedean is a magnificent author with incredible conceptual insights, I don’t recommend this book to persons with emotional attachment to this fiat system, as he can be quite blunt but fair in the criticism of fiat. High blood pressures as a result for sure, for the socialist f*cks out there.
January 13, 2022
Fiat is the root of all evils. At least it's what it seems according to the author.
Wife wants to divorce: the fiat family.
Hangover: blame fiat.
Procrastinated for hours on social media: blame fiat.
...blame fiat...blame fiat...blame fiat
The book defines the mechanics and workings of fiat currency and attempts to present its consequences in the economy, society and the world at large.
The arguments presented by the author would gain much more credibility and soundness if they were explicitly supported by some kind of data. Many of the statements, while presented in a very logical manner, leave the skeptical reader wondering whether they are truly backed by facts or are merely speculations.
A bitcoiner myself, has enjoyed this read but leaves me wondering to what extent does the picture presented by Saifedean correspond to reality. I would challenge the author to release a technical appendix to the book presenting the backups for most of its claims.
Wife wants to divorce: the fiat family.
Hangover: blame fiat.
Procrastinated for hours on social media: blame fiat.
...blame fiat...blame fiat...blame fiat
The book defines the mechanics and workings of fiat currency and attempts to present its consequences in the economy, society and the world at large.
The arguments presented by the author would gain much more credibility and soundness if they were explicitly supported by some kind of data. Many of the statements, while presented in a very logical manner, leave the skeptical reader wondering whether they are truly backed by facts or are merely speculations.
A bitcoiner myself, has enjoyed this read but leaves me wondering to what extent does the picture presented by Saifedean correspond to reality. I would challenge the author to release a technical appendix to the book presenting the backups for most of its claims.
February 13, 2022
It's just as good as The Bitcoin Standard, maybe even better.
I'd consider this a must-read for every human on earth. This book does not self-censor itself and just says it like it is. It will thus brutally offend the vast majority of all readers who have been hypnotised by the mainstream media for the last few decades.
Just read it, if only to get some contrarian ideas into your head.
I'd consider this a must-read for every human on earth. This book does not self-censor itself and just says it like it is. It will thus brutally offend the vast majority of all readers who have been hypnotised by the mainstream media for the last few decades.
Just read it, if only to get some contrarian ideas into your head.
December 23, 2021
หนังสือเล่มนี้คือคุณค่าที่คุณคู่ควร เพราะตอบทุกปัญหา ด่าเงินเฟียตแทบทุกหน้า โดยแบ่งเป็นหมวดหมู่ว่าจะด่าเงินเฟียตในเรื่องอะไรบ้าง/การศึกษาหรอ เอาไปเลยบทหนึ่ง/วงการวิทยาศาสตร์หรอ เอาไปเลยบทหนึ่ง/วงการการเงินหรอ เอาไปเลยอีกบทหนึ่ง คือ ดีมากๆ และมันไม่ใช่การใส่ความ แต่มันคือสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นจริงๆ บนโลกของเรา และมันดำเนินมาอย่างแยบยลจนเราไม่รู้ตัวว่ากำลังติดกับดักอยู่ในวังวงเงินเฟียต
จริงๆ เล่มนี้ต้องอ่าน the bitcoin standard มาก่อนจะทำให้เข้าใจมากขึ้น เพราะเซฟดีนเขียนเงินเฟียตเทียบกับบิทคอยน์ผ่านเทคโนโลยีต่างๆ เช่น fiat standard ที่เราใช้อยู่ตอนนี้มีอยู่แค่ node เดียวด้วยซ้ำ แต่เราก็ยังเชื่อใจมันมาหลายปีดีดัก ทั้งๆ ที่มัน scam เราโดยลดค่าเงินที่เราถืออยู่ลงทุกปีโดยที่ไม่ได้ถามความเห็นชอบของผู้ถือเงินด้วยซ้ำ แบบ ดือ อินมากๆ
แต่เล่มนี้ฮาร์ดคอร์มากๆ ถ้าเราอยู่สายเคนเซียนมานาน (และจริงๆ เราก็อยู่ในเศรษฐศาสตร์เคนเซียนกันตลอดชีวิต) จะรู้สึกว่า หรอวะ ใช่หรอวะ ตลอดเวลา เงินเฟียตมันเกี่ยวกับอาหารการกินของเราด้วยหรอ เงินเฟียตมันสร้างผลกระทบกับวงการวิทยาศาสตร์ขนาดนี้เลย และใช่ เงินเฟียตมันทำอะไรหลายๆ อย่างกับชีวิตเรา เพราะงั้นตอนอ่านเล่มนี้คือว้าวมากๆ หลายอย่างในเล่มนี้ตอบคำถามที่เราสงสัยมาตลอด และช่วยให้เรามองประวัติศาสตร์ที่ผ่านมาได้อย่างเข้าใจและลึกซึ้งมากขึ้นมากๆ
อย่างแรกที่สงสัยมาตลอดคือ ทำไมการเก็บเงินเฉยๆ มันไม่ใช่เรื่องที่ดี เพราะเอาจริงๆ แล้วแค่การเก็บเงินให้ได้มันก็เป็นเรื่องยากแล้ว แต่ปัจจุบันคือ ถ้าเราไม่เอาเงินของเรามาลงทุนต่อ มันจะกลายเป็นเงินเน่าเพราะมันแพ้เงินเฟ้อที่เฟ้อขึ้นทุกปี นี่มันเป็นการลงโทษคนที่เก็บออมชัดๆ ทำไมคนที่เก็บออมต้องโดนลงโทษในสิ่งที่ตัวเองทำได้ดีอยู่แล้ว มันใช่เรื่องมั้ยที่ต้องมีเงินเฟ้อหน่ะ เราอาจจะโดนสอนมาว่า โลกต้องมีเงินเฟ้อ เงินฝืด แต่มันก็น่าสงสัยจริงๆ นะว่า ทำไมถึงเป็นอย่างนั้นแหละ เพราะแค่เล่าๆ สอนๆ กันต่อมางั้นหรอ แล้วใครเป็นคนสอนละ ใครเป็นบอกเล่าเรื่องนี้กัน (big brother?) แล้วถ้าคนที่เก็บออมโดนลงโทษ ใครได้รับรางวัลละ?
Under the fiat standard, being rich does not usually mean having many fiat tokens. It rather signifies owing a lot of fiat-denominated debt, which dwarfs the amount of physical fiat and fiat in savings and checking accounts.
และนี่เป็นเพียงเสี้ยวเดียวของหนังสือที่อธิบายถึง ยังพูดถึงเรื่องอาหาร 5 หมู่ วงการวิทยาศาสตร์ลวงโลก การศึกษาที่ทำลายอนาคตของเยาวชนไปทุกที และใช่ทั้งหมดนี้ bitcoin fix this
จริงๆ เล่มนี้ต้องอ่าน the bitcoin standard มาก่อนจะทำให้เข้าใจมากขึ้น เพราะเซฟดีนเขียนเงินเฟียตเทียบกับบิทคอยน์ผ่านเทคโนโลยีต่างๆ เช่น fiat standard ที่เราใช้อยู่ตอนนี้มีอยู่แค่ node เดียวด้วยซ้ำ แต่เราก็ยังเชื่อใจมันมาหลายปีดีดัก ทั้งๆ ที่มัน scam เราโดยลดค่าเงินที่เราถืออยู่ลงทุกปีโดยที่ไม่ได้ถามความเห็นชอบของผู้ถือเงินด้วยซ้ำ แบบ ดือ อินมากๆ
แต่เล่มนี้ฮาร์ดคอร์มากๆ ถ้าเราอยู่สายเคนเซียนมานาน (และจริงๆ เราก็อยู่ในเศรษฐศาสตร์เคนเซียนกันตลอดชีวิต) จะรู้สึกว่า หรอวะ ใช่หรอวะ ตลอดเวลา เงินเฟียตมันเกี่ยวกับอาหารการกินของเราด้วยหรอ เงินเฟียตมันสร้างผลกระทบกับวงการวิทยาศาสตร์ขนาดนี้เลย และใช่ เงินเฟียตมันทำอะไรหลายๆ อย่างกับชีวิตเรา เพราะงั้นตอนอ่านเล่มนี้คือว้าวมากๆ หลายอย่างในเล่มนี้ตอบคำถามที่เราสงสัยมาตลอด และช่วยให้เรามองประวัติศาสตร์ที่ผ่านมาได้อย่างเข้าใจและลึกซึ้งมากขึ้นมากๆ
อย่างแรกที่สงสัยมาตลอดคือ ทำไมการเก็บเงินเฉยๆ มันไม่ใช่เรื่องที่ดี เพราะเอาจริงๆ แล้วแค่การเก็บเงินให้ได้มันก็เป็นเรื่องยากแล้ว แต่ปัจจุบันคือ ถ้าเราไม่เอาเงินของเรามาลงทุนต่อ มันจะกลายเป็นเงินเน่าเพราะมันแพ้เงินเฟ้อที่เฟ้อขึ้นทุกปี นี่มันเป็นการลงโทษคนที่เก็บออมชัดๆ ทำไมคนที่เก็บออมต้องโดนลงโทษในสิ่งที่ตัวเองทำได้ดีอยู่แล้ว มันใช่เรื่องมั้ยที่ต้องมีเงินเฟ้อหน่ะ เราอาจจะโดนสอนมาว่า โลกต้องมีเงินเฟ้อ เงินฝืด แต่มันก็น่าสงสัยจริงๆ นะว่า ทำไมถึงเป็นอย่างนั้นแหละ เพราะแค่เล่าๆ สอนๆ กันต่อมางั้นหรอ แล้วใครเป็นคนสอนละ ใครเป็นบอกเล่าเรื่องนี้กัน (big brother?) แล้วถ้าคนที่เก็บออมโดนลงโทษ ใครได้รับรางวัลละ?
Under the fiat standard, being rich does not usually mean having many fiat tokens. It rather signifies owing a lot of fiat-denominated debt, which dwarfs the amount of physical fiat and fiat in savings and checking accounts.
และนี่เป็นเพียงเสี้ยวเดียวของหนังสือที่อธิบายถึง ยังพูดถึงเรื่องอาหาร 5 หมู่ วงการวิทยาศาสตร์ลวงโลก การศึกษาที่ทำลายอนาคตของเยาวชนไปทุกที และใช่ทั้งหมดนี้ bitcoin fix this
February 18, 2024
I disliked nearly everything in this book ;/ It doesn't mean I was biased against it - quite the contrary. OK, so what did I have problems with here:
- first of all, it's NOT a book about fiat standard but yet another Bitcoin advocacy book - the part about the fiat money is max 20% of the book & it's deeply flawed
- the consideration of fiat money is extremely shallow: bold statements (very opinionated) that are not followed with any clarification/explanation - in some cases, it left me dumbfounded (as I had no opinion but didn't just want to believe what I've read) and in some cases, I simply disagreed (but there was no space for discussion as there were no justification to discuss with)
- once the discussion gets into Bitcoin, all the rational thinking is gone - the mission is clear - Bitcoin is obviously flawless, perfect, and all the cons are imagined or not important ;PPP Sometimes, this thinking was so ridiculous that it had left me speechless; e.g., when the author claimed Lightning solves all the scaling issues or that the energy consumption is not a problem as the energy would be wasted anyway ;P Some arguments are the typical, recurring childish rants.
- the book gets significantly worse (yes, even worse) when it goes into what the author calls "fiat life" (fiat food, fiat science, fiat fuels, ...). Basically, the author is a zealot of decentralization and libertarianism, so instead of writing about monetary systems, he chose rambling about how he'd like to fix the world ... waste of time
- and the final part is pure Bitcoin evangelism - paeans for the perfect future filled with cleptocurrency gambling and speculation ...
This whole book is a scam, starting with its title. Avoid.
- first of all, it's NOT a book about fiat standard but yet another Bitcoin advocacy book - the part about the fiat money is max 20% of the book & it's deeply flawed
- the consideration of fiat money is extremely shallow: bold statements (very opinionated) that are not followed with any clarification/explanation - in some cases, it left me dumbfounded (as I had no opinion but didn't just want to believe what I've read) and in some cases, I simply disagreed (but there was no space for discussion as there were no justification to discuss with)
- once the discussion gets into Bitcoin, all the rational thinking is gone - the mission is clear - Bitcoin is obviously flawless, perfect, and all the cons are imagined or not important ;PPP Sometimes, this thinking was so ridiculous that it had left me speechless; e.g., when the author claimed Lightning solves all the scaling issues or that the energy consumption is not a problem as the energy would be wasted anyway ;P Some arguments are the typical, recurring childish rants.
- the book gets significantly worse (yes, even worse) when it goes into what the author calls "fiat life" (fiat food, fiat science, fiat fuels, ...). Basically, the author is a zealot of decentralization and libertarianism, so instead of writing about monetary systems, he chose rambling about how he'd like to fix the world ... waste of time
- and the final part is pure Bitcoin evangelism - paeans for the perfect future filled with cleptocurrency gambling and speculation ...
This whole book is a scam, starting with its title. Avoid.
July 18, 2022
This book has 3 main parts:
1, Fiat Money: The history of money and inner workings of fiat institutions
2, Fiat Life: A picture of fiat money's power over our lives
3, Fiat Liquidator: A chapter about Bitcoin's superiority
The first part is pure gold. It has so many good insights and explanations that I couldn't stop reading it. It's an excellent, detailed description of the past and current money system that we use. It's a shame that many of us (including me, of course) didn't know too much about it despite the fact that we use it every day. It has many such information nuggets that I was looking for for years, and I think this chapter should be thought in every high school. I would buy this book again for just this first part.
The second part was a disappointment for me. I don't know if it's because of my own ignorance, my not flexible enough belief system, or the authors too confident fiat-system-blaming was the real reason, but I skipped the most part of it to be honest.
The third part was an interesting read, because I worked as a blockchain developer for years and I had to dive into Bitcoin and its alternatives on a deep technical level. It has many valid points, and I think it is a useful theoretical introduction for someone who is not too familiar with the cryptocurrency space, but I made many small notes and remarks while I read it, because I felt things exaggerated, too simplified or somewhat misleading.
I will not bore you with all of them, this review is long enough already, but here are 3 points that I think are important to know:
#1 We, crypto-fans all hope that Bitcoin will become the hardest de-facto savings vehicle one day, and the author makes a logical explanation why it is inevitable. It might be true, but as we can see now in 2022, if recession hits, the US dollar and gold keeps its value significantly better than Bitcoin. Between January and July while gold roughly kept its value, Bitcoin halved it.
#2 I personally don't care that much about Bitcoin price, I'm much more interested in adaptation rate. How many merchants are actually accepting Bitcoin today? The real numbers are not encouraging at all. I think no matter how much market cap Bitcoin has on paper, if it's not really used as money.
#3 Theoretically the Lightning Network would solve many challenges that Bitcoin has. The problem is, that when you actually start using it for actual purchases, many things can go wrong. I - despite my knowledge of the technicalities - struggled to make Bitcoin and Lightning Network work conveniently, and I spent many hours and many satoshis fixing random problems that popped up during my journey. These included failed, delayed, expensive transactions and confusing error messages.
I don't want to discourage anyone to play around with these new technologies, and I'm still optimistic that they will eventually mature and get more user friendly. I agree with the author that it would - at least partially - cure many ills of our current monetary system.
On the other hand the user experience with fiat cash, credit cards, solidly working POS terminals, customer support, etc. is significantly better for customers than the alternative Bitcoin can offer today.
Let's hope it changes sooner than later!
1, Fiat Money: The history of money and inner workings of fiat institutions
2, Fiat Life: A picture of fiat money's power over our lives
3, Fiat Liquidator: A chapter about Bitcoin's superiority
The first part is pure gold. It has so many good insights and explanations that I couldn't stop reading it. It's an excellent, detailed description of the past and current money system that we use. It's a shame that many of us (including me, of course) didn't know too much about it despite the fact that we use it every day. It has many such information nuggets that I was looking for for years, and I think this chapter should be thought in every high school. I would buy this book again for just this first part.
The second part was a disappointment for me. I don't know if it's because of my own ignorance, my not flexible enough belief system, or the authors too confident fiat-system-blaming was the real reason, but I skipped the most part of it to be honest.
The third part was an interesting read, because I worked as a blockchain developer for years and I had to dive into Bitcoin and its alternatives on a deep technical level. It has many valid points, and I think it is a useful theoretical introduction for someone who is not too familiar with the cryptocurrency space, but I made many small notes and remarks while I read it, because I felt things exaggerated, too simplified or somewhat misleading.
I will not bore you with all of them, this review is long enough already, but here are 3 points that I think are important to know:
#1 We, crypto-fans all hope that Bitcoin will become the hardest de-facto savings vehicle one day, and the author makes a logical explanation why it is inevitable. It might be true, but as we can see now in 2022, if recession hits, the US dollar and gold keeps its value significantly better than Bitcoin. Between January and July while gold roughly kept its value, Bitcoin halved it.
#2 I personally don't care that much about Bitcoin price, I'm much more interested in adaptation rate. How many merchants are actually accepting Bitcoin today? The real numbers are not encouraging at all. I think no matter how much market cap Bitcoin has on paper, if it's not really used as money.
#3 Theoretically the Lightning Network would solve many challenges that Bitcoin has. The problem is, that when you actually start using it for actual purchases, many things can go wrong. I - despite my knowledge of the technicalities - struggled to make Bitcoin and Lightning Network work conveniently, and I spent many hours and many satoshis fixing random problems that popped up during my journey. These included failed, delayed, expensive transactions and confusing error messages.
I don't want to discourage anyone to play around with these new technologies, and I'm still optimistic that they will eventually mature and get more user friendly. I agree with the author that it would - at least partially - cure many ills of our current monetary system.
On the other hand the user experience with fiat cash, credit cards, solidly working POS terminals, customer support, etc. is significantly better for customers than the alternative Bitcoin can offer today.
Let's hope it changes sooner than later!
December 26, 2021
An excellent and thorough critique of the fiat monetary standard and centralized planning of worthless currencies not back by anything more than faith in the country’s promise to pay back their debt.
This book dives much deeper than showing how Bitcoin fits the role of hard money and can protect individuals from inflation and the various effects of government monetary manipulation and central planning.
Even if you don’t agree with all the conclusions presented this book will have you think and reconsider your own views as he author shows how central planning in government money affects all aspects of life with devastating consequences such as food, science, energy, banking, and ultimately the individual liberties of everyone as we all suffer from the enslaving effects of fiat in our daily lives whether we realize it or not. This is a great sequel to the first book by the author, The Bitcoin Standard.
Read it ready to have your presuppositions challenged and you will grow and profit much from this book. The author gives ample evidence from various resources to back up his claims so it is much more than hype to buy Bitcoin as he gives the economic reasons of why and how Bitcoin is superior as a hard money to the fiat alternative. The last chapter also addresses the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies) and how it will fail in comparison to Bitcoin since they are polar opposites in terms of individual freedom and money that is free from government manipulation.
This book dives much deeper than showing how Bitcoin fits the role of hard money and can protect individuals from inflation and the various effects of government monetary manipulation and central planning.
Even if you don’t agree with all the conclusions presented this book will have you think and reconsider your own views as he author shows how central planning in government money affects all aspects of life with devastating consequences such as food, science, energy, banking, and ultimately the individual liberties of everyone as we all suffer from the enslaving effects of fiat in our daily lives whether we realize it or not. This is a great sequel to the first book by the author, The Bitcoin Standard.
Read it ready to have your presuppositions challenged and you will grow and profit much from this book. The author gives ample evidence from various resources to back up his claims so it is much more than hype to buy Bitcoin as he gives the economic reasons of why and how Bitcoin is superior as a hard money to the fiat alternative. The last chapter also addresses the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currencies) and how it will fail in comparison to Bitcoin since they are polar opposites in terms of individual freedom and money that is free from government manipulation.
December 12, 2021
Very thought-provoking to say the least. I found myself putting the book down to write notes and look into various claims with regularity and I must say, I agree with the author thoroughly. This is NOT the book for you if you are not interested in questioning many commonly held beliefs about various sectors (energy, education, nutrition, etc.) and the role governments play in each. I came for the Bitcoin, and learned so much more about the workings of the world and our country (US). I am still learning about economics (again, through the lens of Bitcoin) and it is both fascinating and disturbing to explore the effects that a poor monetary standards has on humanity. Fantastic read!
May 31, 2022
ตอนที่หยิบหนังสือเล่มนี้มา คืออ่านชื่อหนังสือผิดไง อ่านเป็น The Flat Standard ก็เลยหยิบมาอ่าน เพราะคิดว่าน่าจะได้ข้อคิดต่างๆมาปรับใช้กับการทำงานได้ พออ่านไปอ่านมา คืองงมาก ไม่ใช่ล่ะ 555
หนังสืออธิบายความเป็นมาเรื่องราวเกี่ยวการเงิน เช่นทางด้านประวัติศาสตร์ต่างๆ ได้ดี น่าสนใจมาก ใครสนใจเรื่องราวเกี่ยวกับเงินเฟียต แนะนำเลย
แต่เราไม่ค่อยอินเท่าไรอะ
หนังสืออธิบายความเป็นมาเรื่องราวเกี่ยวการเงิน เช่นทางด้านประวัติศาสตร์ต่างๆ ได้ดี น่าสนใจมาก ใครสนใจเรื่องราวเกี่ยวกับเงินเฟียต แนะนำเลย
แต่เราไม่ค่อยอินเท่าไรอะ
September 25, 2022
This Saifedean guy is amazing at explaining apparently difficult topics like fiat economy and bitcoin economy while dismissing all the garbage theories that claim to represent economics. He is clear spoken and makes these things seem simple and extremely interesting at the same time.
I like how he describes fiat monetary system using crypto terms. Basically there is the FED in the U.S. which acts as the central node of all the fiat money in the world as US dollar is the world reserve currency. This node sets the interest rate of loans 8 times every year and this affects the economy all over the world. Then there are central banks which act as central nodes locally. These nodes can control the currency locally any way they want, for example limitlessly create new money or declare someone else’s money invalid. These nodes are controlled by the government and in turn these central banks lend limitless money to the government by buying government bonds. This in turn means that the currency is under political control and that limitless money enables governments to create things like the all-out wars of the 20th century after the the gold standard was abandoned globally. This meant that money wasn’t backed by a hard currency like gold anymore. Thus governments could limitlessly create money for themselves by using central banks.
What I didn’t realize before and what this book so beautifully described, is that governments don’t just print new money into existence. The method by which they create limitless money for themselves is through debt. For example when a central bank loans a billion USD to the government, they do not move any money around, they just write the newly created dept into their ledger as an asset. So in essence they do print money without limits but the vehicle that allows them to do that is debt. This is why most governments are in extreme amounts of debt. Governments have the power to create limitless money for themselves while the resulting inflation will be affecting all of the population.
Hoisting this beast on a population affects all aspects of our lives. It reduces the time preference of people since there is no hard currency to rely on that will at least hold its value through time. There is still gold but most people’s net worth is still in local currency. Since the value of the local fiat money will most definitely decrease with time, people have no solid future to rely on by saving their money. Thus they tend to focus more on using their money in the present and going towards risky investments. It might not sound that bad but it the same as the difference between a drug addict and someone planning their life for the next 50 years. This attitude will eventually be pervasive in a society abandoning any hard currency like gold and functioning purely on fiat money. The effects will be evident in the food, architecture, science, education and so on. An example would be that buildings in the US built in the fiat money era don’t last very long and are of low quality while those built in the gold standard era are not only more often architectural masterpieces but function without issues after a hundred years.
Granted, fiat money had advantages over gold backed money since transporting gold over large distances and the verification process of gold takes time and money. Here’s where bitcoin comes in. It is a hard currency like gold but without the disadvantages. Governments cannot control it, at least in theory. Bitcoin as a representative of cryptocurrencies, is basically like the internet but in the form of currency. Everyone with a power source and internet can become a node in the system. This is a very important difference between fiat money where only the central banks can be nodes. With bitcoin, though no nodes can centrally control the currency or create new money without any limits. These nodes can create new money but they have to perform work on the system, by verifying transactions, for example. This system of creating new money is controlled by an algorithm that adapts with changing conditions, ensuring that a finite amount of new money will ever be created. Also the whole system is open source and all the transactions are visible to anyone which is another reason why it cannot be centrally controlled. While there are theoretical weak spots of Bitcoin, this system is as robust as the internet. The internet changed our lives and so much that we can’t imagine our lives without internet anymore. I believe cryptocurrencies will do the same.
And finally, I really enjoyed how he deliciously roasts John Maynard Keynes as a government hack whose theories were propagated by governments to justify their corruption. This is the guy whose theories dominate the academia and politics. Basically Keynes’ idea is that increasing the amount of money in the economy adds production and is good for the economy. This theory is used by governments to justify their endless inflationary policies. While Keynes’s followers have taken these theories to the extremes and Keynes himself might not have agreed with it, were he alive, there are fundamental problems with the theory. Money and credit themselves aren’t productive assets, rather they are an outcome of productive work and governments cannot reverse this process. It would be like printing extra tickets for a football game, expecting to increase spectators. The problem is that the amount of seats is limited and printing extra tickets will not change that. The tickets are just a representation of the seats.
I like how he describes fiat monetary system using crypto terms. Basically there is the FED in the U.S. which acts as the central node of all the fiat money in the world as US dollar is the world reserve currency. This node sets the interest rate of loans 8 times every year and this affects the economy all over the world. Then there are central banks which act as central nodes locally. These nodes can control the currency locally any way they want, for example limitlessly create new money or declare someone else’s money invalid. These nodes are controlled by the government and in turn these central banks lend limitless money to the government by buying government bonds. This in turn means that the currency is under political control and that limitless money enables governments to create things like the all-out wars of the 20th century after the the gold standard was abandoned globally. This meant that money wasn’t backed by a hard currency like gold anymore. Thus governments could limitlessly create money for themselves by using central banks.
What I didn’t realize before and what this book so beautifully described, is that governments don’t just print new money into existence. The method by which they create limitless money for themselves is through debt. For example when a central bank loans a billion USD to the government, they do not move any money around, they just write the newly created dept into their ledger as an asset. So in essence they do print money without limits but the vehicle that allows them to do that is debt. This is why most governments are in extreme amounts of debt. Governments have the power to create limitless money for themselves while the resulting inflation will be affecting all of the population.
Hoisting this beast on a population affects all aspects of our lives. It reduces the time preference of people since there is no hard currency to rely on that will at least hold its value through time. There is still gold but most people’s net worth is still in local currency. Since the value of the local fiat money will most definitely decrease with time, people have no solid future to rely on by saving their money. Thus they tend to focus more on using their money in the present and going towards risky investments. It might not sound that bad but it the same as the difference between a drug addict and someone planning their life for the next 50 years. This attitude will eventually be pervasive in a society abandoning any hard currency like gold and functioning purely on fiat money. The effects will be evident in the food, architecture, science, education and so on. An example would be that buildings in the US built in the fiat money era don’t last very long and are of low quality while those built in the gold standard era are not only more often architectural masterpieces but function without issues after a hundred years.
Granted, fiat money had advantages over gold backed money since transporting gold over large distances and the verification process of gold takes time and money. Here’s where bitcoin comes in. It is a hard currency like gold but without the disadvantages. Governments cannot control it, at least in theory. Bitcoin as a representative of cryptocurrencies, is basically like the internet but in the form of currency. Everyone with a power source and internet can become a node in the system. This is a very important difference between fiat money where only the central banks can be nodes. With bitcoin, though no nodes can centrally control the currency or create new money without any limits. These nodes can create new money but they have to perform work on the system, by verifying transactions, for example. This system of creating new money is controlled by an algorithm that adapts with changing conditions, ensuring that a finite amount of new money will ever be created. Also the whole system is open source and all the transactions are visible to anyone which is another reason why it cannot be centrally controlled. While there are theoretical weak spots of Bitcoin, this system is as robust as the internet. The internet changed our lives and so much that we can’t imagine our lives without internet anymore. I believe cryptocurrencies will do the same.
And finally, I really enjoyed how he deliciously roasts John Maynard Keynes as a government hack whose theories were propagated by governments to justify their corruption. This is the guy whose theories dominate the academia and politics. Basically Keynes’ idea is that increasing the amount of money in the economy adds production and is good for the economy. This theory is used by governments to justify their endless inflationary policies. While Keynes’s followers have taken these theories to the extremes and Keynes himself might not have agreed with it, were he alive, there are fundamental problems with the theory. Money and credit themselves aren’t productive assets, rather they are an outcome of productive work and governments cannot reverse this process. It would be like printing extra tickets for a football game, expecting to increase spectators. The problem is that the amount of seats is limited and printing extra tickets will not change that. The tickets are just a representation of the seats.
December 29, 2022
I did not enjoy this as much as I did the Bitcoin Standard. The first part of the book is fine, understanding the fiat system through the lens of bitcoin and frankly just understanding the actual underlying dynamics of money creation. There is a very relevant history here: we have dramatically redefined what money is over the past century. That dramatic change away from the gold standard ought to make us open-minded about future change, towards say a bitcoin-based monetary system. The shift away from hard money has also handed vast power to governments and their central banks. Power that may be wisely used over short periods of time, but which is ultimately always over-extended as subsequent crises have us explore policy depths previously thought off-limits.
From Part II though (Fiat Life), it sometimes really feels like the author has lost his marbles. Yes, having a society on fiat will have broad societal impact and there are many fair criticisms to be made, but not every bad thing that has happened since we left the gold standard is due to monetary policy. He literally goes everywhere, from fiat architecture to family life, agriculture, academia or energy provision. The vision of course is some kind of libertarian paradise where if only we had hard money, pure economic incentives would prevail everywhere and a new utopia would be ushered in.
The world under the gold standard was not a utopia, I don't expect the world under bitcoin to be one. Ammous is clearly very bright and has interesting challenges to how I think, but I struggled to make my way through the book.
From Part II though (Fiat Life), it sometimes really feels like the author has lost his marbles. Yes, having a society on fiat will have broad societal impact and there are many fair criticisms to be made, but not every bad thing that has happened since we left the gold standard is due to monetary policy. He literally goes everywhere, from fiat architecture to family life, agriculture, academia or energy provision. The vision of course is some kind of libertarian paradise where if only we had hard money, pure economic incentives would prevail everywhere and a new utopia would be ushered in.
The world under the gold standard was not a utopia, I don't expect the world under bitcoin to be one. Ammous is clearly very bright and has interesting challenges to how I think, but I struggled to make my way through the book.
April 25, 2022
It would be nearly impossible to overstate how much I loved this book and how important I think it is for the future of our world. Saifedean blew my mind in his first book - The Bitcoin Standard - and I was honestly worried about how much he would be able to add to that in this one. But after finishing it I am really tempted to say I liked this one even more! His examination of the pros and cons of the fiat system is thorough, extensive and (I believe) very even-handed. I love that even he admits to broadening his view of fiat during his research for this book due to gaining a better understanding of the problems it was created to (and did) solve.
If you have read his first book, this one is a no-brainer, buy it tomorrow! And if you haven’t read anything of his yet, I can’t encourage you enough to dedicate the time to read them both as they will give you insight into the workings of our modern world that not many people have. These are some of the best non-fiction books I have ever read and I seriously cannot recommend them highly enough!
Favorite Quote: “The notion of government micromanaging individuals’ lives and choices was quaint before fiat. Fiat’s unlimited spending power makes all these ideas possible by separating the lunatics who pursue them from the costs and consequences.”
If you have read his first book, this one is a no-brainer, buy it tomorrow! And if you haven’t read anything of his yet, I can’t encourage you enough to dedicate the time to read them both as they will give you insight into the workings of our modern world that not many people have. These are some of the best non-fiction books I have ever read and I seriously cannot recommend them highly enough!
Favorite Quote: “The notion of government micromanaging individuals’ lives and choices was quaint before fiat. Fiat’s unlimited spending power makes all these ideas possible by separating the lunatics who pursue them from the costs and consequences.”
August 11, 2023
This book is absolutely, very heavily biased, essentially boiling down to the fact that Bitcoin is the answer to everything between heaven and earth, and that fiat (pick any word such as: academia, money, science…) is the source of any and all problems ever. Now mainly the beginning and end have some solid knowledge but what lies in between these two is borderline dangerous for people who do not have either the necessary knowledge about the topics discussed or the critical reading skills to decipher the content. I was astounded by the huge amount of misinformation in this book. Unsurprisingly in the end the author has a disclaimer that this book was published independently. At least that makes sense. 1.5 stars.
February 10, 2023
کتابیه که خوندنش برای فهم دنیای امروز ضروریه به نظرم
در کتابهای دانشگاهی جریان اصلی اقتصاد، تا جایی که دیدهام، این نگاهی رو که این کتاب به پول و تأثیرش روی ترجیحات زمانی آدمها و نقشش در ساخ��ن تمدن و تمام جنبههای زندگی بشر داشته ندیدهبودم و همیشه وجود پولی که انحصار انتشارش دست دولت باشه رو بدیهی میگیرند ولی این کتاب در کنار کتاب استاندارد بیتکوین تاریخچه پول و مسیری رو که به پول دستوری امروز ختم شد به خوبی شرح میدن
بخش دوم کتاب که در خصوص زندگی فیات و تأثیر پول فیات روی غذا، علم و سوخت انرژیه بسیار جذاب و خوندنیه
مدتی که این کتاب رو میخوندم گاهی به این فکر میکردم که ما مردمان فیات چقدر ترحمبرانگیزیم
در کتابهای دانشگاهی جریان اصلی اقتصاد، تا جایی که دیدهام، این نگاهی رو که این کتاب به پول و تأثیرش روی ترجیحات زمانی آدمها و نقشش در ساخ��ن تمدن و تمام جنبههای زندگی بشر داشته ندیدهبودم و همیشه وجود پولی که انحصار انتشارش دست دولت باشه رو بدیهی میگیرند ولی این کتاب در کنار کتاب استاندارد بیتکوین تاریخچه پول و مسیری رو که به پول دستوری امروز ختم شد به خوبی شرح میدن
بخش دوم کتاب که در خصوص زندگی فیات و تأثیر پول فیات روی غذا، علم و سوخت انرژیه بسیار جذاب و خوندنیه
مدتی که این کتاب رو میخوندم گاهی به این فکر میکردم که ما مردمان فیات چقدر ترحمبرانگیزیم
October 5, 2022
This book holds the keys to why our world is so broken. A wonderfully acidic skewering of centralized banking, fiat currency, and Keynesian "economics" (i.e., witchcraft). If you've ever wondered why nothing seems to get better no matter how much the government spends, read this book. If you've never wondered that, are you even sentient, friend?
February 27, 2025
If there is one thing this book is very successful at, it's making the reader understand that the average person has no idea how money works because banks abstract that complexity away from us.
Whilst I agree with the majority of the book, it does ask the reader to agree with some quite controversial and conspiratorial standpoints at times.
The strengths of this book are awesome, it does an excellent job of giving a high level overview of both BTC and Fiat and I have taken away a lot from reading it.
I love the parallel that debt and lending is the equivalent of Bitcoin mining (ie that it is incentivised and inevitable in our current system and how Fiat actually grows through inflation), I found anything to do with gold, fiat and BTC salability fascinating, it makes you think twice about holding on to any cash, even if you're not putting into Bitcoin, investing is necessary. The quote I liked most about this:
"You effectively need to earn your money twice with fiat, once when you work for it, and once when you invest it to beat inflation."
This is taken further too, it was really fascinating to get a bit of an understanding of inflation, why moving from the gold standard happened, why it made sense at the time, how central banks bail out fractional reserve banks and to be honest it's hard not to become frustrated and disillusioned with our current system.
I was not as enamored however about some of the indirect consequences prescribed by this book. Namely that fiat fuels (green energy) and fiat foods (vegetables and grains as opposed to red meat and animal fats) are a scam. The book claims they are built off of studies performed by an echo chamber of academics who are funded indirectly by the government, have strong incentives to maintain the status quo and produce work of no value. Whole chapters are dedicated to these effects and it can be a little tiring, it feels like the economic principles veer too heavily into the political. I'm not naive enough to think that both aren't inexorably linked and there is likely truth to it, but it wasn't what I signed up for.
Either way if you like the Bitcoin Standard, you'd be a fool to not give this a read.
Whilst I agree with the majority of the book, it does ask the reader to agree with some quite controversial and conspiratorial standpoints at times.
The strengths of this book are awesome, it does an excellent job of giving a high level overview of both BTC and Fiat and I have taken away a lot from reading it.
I love the parallel that debt and lending is the equivalent of Bitcoin mining (ie that it is incentivised and inevitable in our current system and how Fiat actually grows through inflation), I found anything to do with gold, fiat and BTC salability fascinating, it makes you think twice about holding on to any cash, even if you're not putting into Bitcoin, investing is necessary. The quote I liked most about this:
"You effectively need to earn your money twice with fiat, once when you work for it, and once when you invest it to beat inflation."
This is taken further too, it was really fascinating to get a bit of an understanding of inflation, why moving from the gold standard happened, why it made sense at the time, how central banks bail out fractional reserve banks and to be honest it's hard not to become frustrated and disillusioned with our current system.
I was not as enamored however about some of the indirect consequences prescribed by this book. Namely that fiat fuels (green energy) and fiat foods (vegetables and grains as opposed to red meat and animal fats) are a scam. The book claims they are built off of studies performed by an echo chamber of academics who are funded indirectly by the government, have strong incentives to maintain the status quo and produce work of no value. Whole chapters are dedicated to these effects and it can be a little tiring, it feels like the economic principles veer too heavily into the political. I'm not naive enough to think that both aren't inexorably linked and there is likely truth to it, but it wasn't what I signed up for.
Either way if you like the Bitcoin Standard, you'd be a fool to not give this a read.
June 20, 2022
Who should read it: those who have read The Bitcoin Standard by the same author and want more.
S.A. tackles an honest attempt to "steel man" what truly led to the Fiat Standard of the world we find ourselves in today. In this he succeeds more or less to varying degrees to take the benefits of that system seriously vs its drawbacks.
Enlightening points include how creation of debt is "mining" in fiat currency creation. That there is no real cash anymore - no substance which is immediate and final upon its transfer. That there is a "single node" (the US Fed) that can invalidate any transaction or even any set of paper currency notes by serial number if they so choose. Also powerful is the point that gold's relaatively high transaction cost reduced its salability across space, offering encouragement to the governmental plans to replace them with banknotes and eventually openly disconnect redeem-ability in gold. Also, salient as in Bitcoin standard is the connection between these and governments choices for war.
There are some more creative and esoteric claims related to nutrition and climate change included and some perhaps less concrete connections between these and a Fiat standard. I am indeed interested in several of the controversial and non-consensus views sketched but find them less convincing then the central points around central banking, currency, and money.
Emphasizing the sometimes hidden but very real costs of a fiat standard (continuous erosion of purchasing power for everyone, enforcement of a world economic system dependent on a single fiat bank note (the US) being undergirded by war, and that the spoils of war may no longer be seizure of territory, natural resources or people, but the right to control the very lifeblood of the world economic system via that fiat standard was a new concept for me.
4 Star reviews mean I really enjoyed this book, I will likely read it again someday. I would recommend it to many people and it changed my mind about something important.
S.A. tackles an honest attempt to "steel man" what truly led to the Fiat Standard of the world we find ourselves in today. In this he succeeds more or less to varying degrees to take the benefits of that system seriously vs its drawbacks.
Enlightening points include how creation of debt is "mining" in fiat currency creation. That there is no real cash anymore - no substance which is immediate and final upon its transfer. That there is a "single node" (the US Fed) that can invalidate any transaction or even any set of paper currency notes by serial number if they so choose. Also powerful is the point that gold's relaatively high transaction cost reduced its salability across space, offering encouragement to the governmental plans to replace them with banknotes and eventually openly disconnect redeem-ability in gold. Also, salient as in Bitcoin standard is the connection between these and governments choices for war.
There are some more creative and esoteric claims related to nutrition and climate change included and some perhaps less concrete connections between these and a Fiat standard. I am indeed interested in several of the controversial and non-consensus views sketched but find them less convincing then the central points around central banking, currency, and money.
Emphasizing the sometimes hidden but very real costs of a fiat standard (continuous erosion of purchasing power for everyone, enforcement of a world economic system dependent on a single fiat bank note (the US) being undergirded by war, and that the spoils of war may no longer be seizure of territory, natural resources or people, but the right to control the very lifeblood of the world economic system via that fiat standard was a new concept for me.
4 Star reviews mean I really enjoyed this book, I will likely read it again someday. I would recommend it to many people and it changed my mind about something important.
October 2, 2023
Yikes.
Academic screeds filled with emotional language that runs counter to popular social wisdom. Amongst the many interesting and intriguing points, there runs an anti-populist message that comes scarily close to conspiracy theorist vitriol, and it makes me hope that people read this book with a critical head on their shoulders.
This book was recommended by a good friend of mine who I respect a lot, so I gave it a damn good go and only bailed out in the final third during the argument for Bitcoin. I'm a crypto fan, so I didn't need convincing of its merits.
Any time I feel uncomfortable during a nonfiction book, I get excited because it means I'm being challenged and it always leads to a deeper interest and eventual understanding of a concept. Reading this was the epitome of that experience.
Ultimately, the pro capitalist angle got exhausting due to the over emphasis on the author's desire for a free market.
Academic screeds filled with emotional language that runs counter to popular social wisdom. Amongst the many interesting and intriguing points, there runs an anti-populist message that comes scarily close to conspiracy theorist vitriol, and it makes me hope that people read this book with a critical head on their shoulders.
This book was recommended by a good friend of mine who I respect a lot, so I gave it a damn good go and only bailed out in the final third during the argument for Bitcoin. I'm a crypto fan, so I didn't need convincing of its merits.
Any time I feel uncomfortable during a nonfiction book, I get excited because it means I'm being challenged and it always leads to a deeper interest and eventual understanding of a concept. Reading this was the epitome of that experience.
Ultimately, the pro capitalist angle got exhausting due to the over emphasis on the author's desire for a free market.
December 21, 2022
A welcomed sequel to The Bitcoin Standard
April 23, 2022
Saifedean is incredibly brilliant, perhaps the best person to examine this subject. I have maximum respect for the man who took the time to do this work. The information herein is dense and I came away with a much greater understanding.
(Spoiler alert: next paragraph)
The reason for my less than 5 star rating, is as follows. Some of the premises tended to meander into the realm of personal opinion. For instance, the assertion that red meat is the best food of all and that climate change is a political unreality, steps a bit far off the cogent path of a bitcoin versus fiat analysis.
I agree with 90 percent of the logic and arguments in this book. I do not lower my rating because of a difference of opinion. However, opinion is the problem. Critical analysis should be bounded strictly by logic. By exceeding the scope of the topic marginally, the overall premise is weakened and enters the realm of opinion. This is a tremendous book and required reading for bitcoin enthusiasts, however it is not entirely without misconception.
(Spoiler alert: next paragraph)
The reason for my less than 5 star rating, is as follows. Some of the premises tended to meander into the realm of personal opinion. For instance, the assertion that red meat is the best food of all and that climate change is a political unreality, steps a bit far off the cogent path of a bitcoin versus fiat analysis.
I agree with 90 percent of the logic and arguments in this book. I do not lower my rating because of a difference of opinion. However, opinion is the problem. Critical analysis should be bounded strictly by logic. By exceeding the scope of the topic marginally, the overall premise is weakened and enters the realm of opinion. This is a tremendous book and required reading for bitcoin enthusiasts, however it is not entirely without misconception.
December 19, 2021
Represents a pivotal moment in the history of human civilisation
Everything that was difficult to make sense of in today’s upside down world taken over by weird post-modernist minorities and climate catastrophists, now makes sense. How did we get here? This book explains it. You must read The Bitcoin Standard first though. Once you know these books exist, not reading them would be a conscious act of stupidity. They will help you change your life to support yourself through the coming decades of economic and cultural turmoil. They’re also a delight to read - page turners full of draw-dropping facts threaded into a compelling and utterly convincing narrative. Buy!
Everything that was difficult to make sense of in today’s upside down world taken over by weird post-modernist minorities and climate catastrophists, now makes sense. How did we get here? This book explains it. You must read The Bitcoin Standard first though. Once you know these books exist, not reading them would be a conscious act of stupidity. They will help you change your life to support yourself through the coming decades of economic and cultural turmoil. They’re also a delight to read - page turners full of draw-dropping facts threaded into a compelling and utterly convincing narrative. Buy!
June 26, 2024
Having read and loved The Bitcoin Standard, I had high hopes for the Fiat Standard. The book started well, explaining how how current monetary system came to be, and it ended well, with considerations of how bitcoin can replace our existing system, but the middle was very tough to get through.
The tone of the book changes completely as Ammous begins to blame anything and everything on fiat money. A lot of the information used to back up these arguments is biased, and in some cases completely wrong.
The tone of the book changes completely as Ammous begins to blame anything and everything on fiat money. A lot of the information used to back up these arguments is biased, and in some cases completely wrong.
October 29, 2022
It's feels unrigorously written in contrast to reading Alex Epstein just before. The language feels very subjective. Hence no 5th star, even though the information is probably right.
(I only read the food chapter, will update this when I checked out the rest.)
(I only read the food chapter, will update this when I checked out the rest.)
May 9, 2022
Summary: Fiat currencies are currencies which are not backed by anything other than the trust of citizens in the solvency and responsibility of their governments. Fiat currencies can be printed at will by the government, and serve as a way for governments to borrow vast sums of money (because they can use inflation to reduce the real cost of their debts) and have salability across space (they are easy to use in international transactions compared to hard money like gold, which proceeded fiat currencies). These currencies first arose in World War One, when European governments could not use their gold reserves to pay for the expensive war, and therefore had to redeem all the gold held in the country for notes which the government's promised to later redeem for the original gold, but never did. Roosevelt made the next step by banning the private ownership of gold, and the Bretton Woods financial system turned the dollar into the world's reserve currency, exchangeable for gold (for everyone who was not American). As the last nail in the coffin, Richard Nixon suspended gold convertibility in 1971.
What has been the track record of the fiat currency era? In short, it has been abysmal. More than 60 currencies have hyperinflated and failed, and even the most stable currencies (the dollar, the franc, etc.) have lost tremendous value over the past 50 years. Furthermore, the fiat currency has promoted all sorts of other fiat institutions and entities. Economists, for example, have failed to either understand or capture with their tools what is happening to the buying power of regular people, preferring instead to use poorly designed metrics like the CPI. The financial system is incredibly irresponsible, taking massive and unjustified risks at the expense of the taxpayer as a result of bailouts. In addition, banks have built a huge and virtually unregulated market of financial transactions in which, if anything goes wrong, the taxpayer is again made responsible. Time preferences have been negatively affected, as saving is not only no longer a good idea, but its exact opposite, debt, is what is most favored by the fiat system (because inflation reduces both the future value of savings and the future liability of debt). This rising time preference has caused negative effects in food consumption (government sponsored food programs have made us unhealthy), the buildings that we build (building for durability is now an antiquated concept), academic research (academics are pushed to publish irrelevant and badly supported research to maintain their access to government funding), science (climate science encourages people to think of human beings as parasites that need to be discouraged from using the planet's resources), and energy (the government has invested billions into ineffective energy sources while discouraging people from using the most effective energy source, hydrocarbons). International financial institutions take advantage of poor countries by acting as a lender of last resort, propping up unstable and corrupt regimes, and giving loans which the citizens of these countries could not possibly pay for.
How does bitcoin fix all these problems? Bitcoin addresses these issues by being outside of any one person or entity's control (thus, there are no people close to the printing press who can benefit at the expense of others), grassroots (thus, the demand for bitcoin represents genuine use in the free market), and limited (there are fixed number of tokens that can be produced). Bitcoin's structure creates a group of people who are highly motivated to keep the value of their assets high by making sure the system cannot be compromised and does not change. As a result, bitcoin can outcompete the fiat currencies across the globe, and wider adoption may signal the end of fiat currencies and the economic thinking that justified them.
What has been the track record of the fiat currency era? In short, it has been abysmal. More than 60 currencies have hyperinflated and failed, and even the most stable currencies (the dollar, the franc, etc.) have lost tremendous value over the past 50 years. Furthermore, the fiat currency has promoted all sorts of other fiat institutions and entities. Economists, for example, have failed to either understand or capture with their tools what is happening to the buying power of regular people, preferring instead to use poorly designed metrics like the CPI. The financial system is incredibly irresponsible, taking massive and unjustified risks at the expense of the taxpayer as a result of bailouts. In addition, banks have built a huge and virtually unregulated market of financial transactions in which, if anything goes wrong, the taxpayer is again made responsible. Time preferences have been negatively affected, as saving is not only no longer a good idea, but its exact opposite, debt, is what is most favored by the fiat system (because inflation reduces both the future value of savings and the future liability of debt). This rising time preference has caused negative effects in food consumption (government sponsored food programs have made us unhealthy), the buildings that we build (building for durability is now an antiquated concept), academic research (academics are pushed to publish irrelevant and badly supported research to maintain their access to government funding), science (climate science encourages people to think of human beings as parasites that need to be discouraged from using the planet's resources), and energy (the government has invested billions into ineffective energy sources while discouraging people from using the most effective energy source, hydrocarbons). International financial institutions take advantage of poor countries by acting as a lender of last resort, propping up unstable and corrupt regimes, and giving loans which the citizens of these countries could not possibly pay for.
How does bitcoin fix all these problems? Bitcoin addresses these issues by being outside of any one person or entity's control (thus, there are no people close to the printing press who can benefit at the expense of others), grassroots (thus, the demand for bitcoin represents genuine use in the free market), and limited (there are fixed number of tokens that can be produced). Bitcoin's structure creates a group of people who are highly motivated to keep the value of their assets high by making sure the system cannot be compromised and does not change. As a result, bitcoin can outcompete the fiat currencies across the globe, and wider adoption may signal the end of fiat currencies and the economic thinking that justified them.
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May 23, 2024"The Fiat Standard: Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization" by Saifedean Ammous is a critical exploration of modern fiat currency systems, juxtaposing them against traditional hard money systems like the gold standard and Bitcoin. The book delves into the economic, social, and political consequences of fiat money, arguing that it promotes a form of debt slavery that undermines human civilization.
Key Themes and Concepts:
Fiat Money Mechanics:
Fiat currency is government-issued money not backed by a physical commodity. Its value is derived from government regulation and trust in the issuing authority.
Central banks have the power to print money, influencing inflation and interest rates.
Historical Context:
The transition from the gold standard to fiat currency systems, particularly after the Bretton Woods agreement and the Nixon Shock in 1971.
Historical examples of fiat currency failures and hyperinflation.
Economic Consequences:
Inflation: Fiat money is inherently inflationary due to the endless supply, which erodes purchasing power over time.
Debt Accumulation: Governments and individuals are encouraged to take on more debt, leading to unsustainable financial practices.
Social and Political Impact:
Wealth Inequality: Fiat systems often benefit the wealthy and politically connected, exacerbating social inequalities.
Government Control: Centralized control over money supply can lead to increased government intervention in the economy, reducing individual freedoms.
Comparison with Hard Money:
Gold Standard: Historically provided a stable monetary base, limiting inflation and government overreach.
Bitcoin: Presented as a modern alternative to fiat money, offering decentralized and finite supply characteristics similar to gold.
Debt Slavery:
The term "debt slavery" is used to describe the dependency created by fiat systems where individuals and governments are perpetually in debt.
The burden of debt limits economic mobility and personal freedom.
Proposed Solutions:
Adoption of Bitcoin and other hard money systems to restore economic stability and individual autonomy.
Policy reforms to reduce reliance on debt and promote savings and investment.
Critical Analysis:
Ammous provides a compelling argument against fiat currencies, drawing on historical data and economic theory. He suggests that the inherent flaws of fiat money systems lead to broader societal issues, including moral decay and loss of liberty. His advocacy for Bitcoin and hard money reflects a libertarian perspective, emphasizing the need for monetary systems that support individual rights and economic integrity.
Conclusion:
"The Fiat Standard" is a provocative critique of contemporary monetary practices, urging a reevaluation of our reliance on fiat currencies. Ammous envisions a future where money is sound and individuals are free from the shackles of debt, proposing a return to principles that prioritize stability and personal freedom over government control and economic manipulation.
December 29, 2022
“Fiat economists’ most commonly held misconception about bitcoin is that the network requires official, credentialed approval to continue to function. Government control of the monetary system and scientific funding has convinced generations of economists that reality is the product of fiat edict and given them a thoroughly top-down approach to understanding the world.”
This is the sequel to The Bitcoin Standard, the now-classic work on Austrian economics and the technological marvel of Bitcoin. In The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, the world’s angriest Lebanese-Palestinian economist, explains the case for Bitcoin by going back to the origins of money, outlining the rise of the gold standard and fractional reserve banking, and explaining how gold’s flaws led to its eventual centralisation and debasement by governments.
In The Fiat Standard, Saifedean examines the workings of the post-1971 fiat monetary system by making an analogy with Bitcoin. In this depiction of fiat, central banks play the role of ‘full nodes’, while both central banks and commercial banks act as ‘miners,’ creating and profiting from the creation of fiat by devaluing its users’ savings, forcing them to invest in risky assets in order to preserve their purchasing power. This analogy helps us understand fiat’s main advantage over gold - it’s greater scalability across distances - while also highlighting its many serious flaws.
In an entertaining interlude, Saifedean turns his attention to the societal consequences of using a constantly inflating money supply, from endless consumerism as citizens’ time horizons shorten to malinvestment and ever-larger government interventions in individuals’ lives. Readers of a libertarian persuasion will be delighted by Saifedean’s vicious attacks on statism, while more centrist readers may be offended by his scepticism about climate science and government-sponsored nutrition advice. Although I believe that there is some truth in Saifedean’s cultural critiques, his arguments are weaker in this section than in the economic sections of the books. Even so, his conclusions are so delightfully unorthodox and thought-provoking that I can’t bring myself to deduct one star.
Saifedean gets back on track with a succinct outline of the bitcoin investment case and how it can continue to grow without triggering hyperinflation in the fiat economy. He offers a neat explanation of Bitcoin’s addressable market, arguing that the continual inflation in fiat has driven people to look for alternative stores of value that have driven monetary bubbles in bonds, stocks, real estate, art, and other asset classes. Anyone who thinks the current housing crisis is about lack of available housing should read this section.
Overall, this is an entertaining and well-written book that ends on an optimistic note rather than dwelling on doom and gloom. It probably has a rather niche audience, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Bitcoin after reading The Bitcoin Standard, as long as they can stomach the author’s strong libertarian bias.
This is the sequel to The Bitcoin Standard, the now-classic work on Austrian economics and the technological marvel of Bitcoin. In The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, the world’s angriest Lebanese-Palestinian economist, explains the case for Bitcoin by going back to the origins of money, outlining the rise of the gold standard and fractional reserve banking, and explaining how gold’s flaws led to its eventual centralisation and debasement by governments.
In The Fiat Standard, Saifedean examines the workings of the post-1971 fiat monetary system by making an analogy with Bitcoin. In this depiction of fiat, central banks play the role of ‘full nodes’, while both central banks and commercial banks act as ‘miners,’ creating and profiting from the creation of fiat by devaluing its users’ savings, forcing them to invest in risky assets in order to preserve their purchasing power. This analogy helps us understand fiat’s main advantage over gold - it’s greater scalability across distances - while also highlighting its many serious flaws.
In an entertaining interlude, Saifedean turns his attention to the societal consequences of using a constantly inflating money supply, from endless consumerism as citizens’ time horizons shorten to malinvestment and ever-larger government interventions in individuals’ lives. Readers of a libertarian persuasion will be delighted by Saifedean’s vicious attacks on statism, while more centrist readers may be offended by his scepticism about climate science and government-sponsored nutrition advice. Although I believe that there is some truth in Saifedean’s cultural critiques, his arguments are weaker in this section than in the economic sections of the books. Even so, his conclusions are so delightfully unorthodox and thought-provoking that I can’t bring myself to deduct one star.
Saifedean gets back on track with a succinct outline of the bitcoin investment case and how it can continue to grow without triggering hyperinflation in the fiat economy. He offers a neat explanation of Bitcoin’s addressable market, arguing that the continual inflation in fiat has driven people to look for alternative stores of value that have driven monetary bubbles in bonds, stocks, real estate, art, and other asset classes. Anyone who thinks the current housing crisis is about lack of available housing should read this section.
Overall, this is an entertaining and well-written book that ends on an optimistic note rather than dwelling on doom and gloom. It probably has a rather niche audience, but I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about Bitcoin after reading The Bitcoin Standard, as long as they can stomach the author’s strong libertarian bias.
January 26, 2023
The author is unable to distance himself from his first book, The Bitcoin Standard, so everything in this Fiat Standard book is in relation to bitcoin which is kind of silly and naïve. Fiat Money is the creation of a government that needed to spend more money that it currently had in it's bank accounts because people are reluctant to pay their share of taxes, and the government always spends more money than it has. Not because of the "essential services" it provides for its citizens, but because public officials, elected officials, public entities (all bureaucrats) think of their needs first, before actually providing services to the population.
Fiat Money is money without any financial backing in real wealth. The backing central banks and governments have for Fiat Money is debt, they will replace their present debts with future debts plus interest (at the interest rate that they themselves set). It's like if everybody was playing MONOPOLY (the board game) and the government issued paper money all the time, and with time of course would settle all of their responsibilities with more paper money, more titles of debt of future paper money. While everybody else needs to really and truly work for a living, the government just prints more money. This causes inflation, this causes pressure on the credit available for loans for companies and private citizens because the Government usually offers more paper money and interest, and borrows a lot more money that private citizens and companies do. Plus, Governments hold the monopoly on the armed forces, police and the Judicial Department. If people and Banks stop lending the governments money, then they threaten those people with higher taxes, fines, or even jail time. People and companies need collateral to be able to get loans, the governments, just write more and more titles of debt.
So, instead of talking about Bitcoin, that is just one idea to "replace the current fiat monetary system", what people should be asking and demanding is for a new way to be able to produce, sell and trade without any government intervention, freely and safely.
In the beginning, paper money was backed by real gold or silver. This was until the Bretton Woods agreement where the United States of America decided unilaterally to cancel the Gold Standard (backing of Gold for each dollar) and make the valueless paper money (Dollar) the world's convertible currency. From then on, paper money without any tangible value (real value) has made the world extremely poor (in real wealth), even though in nominal values (amount of paper money) there are a lot billionaires. Slowly but surely, Governments around the Globe have penalized (criminalized) trading with minerals (gold, silver, etc.) have criminalized savings and bank transactions (money laundering), and at each moment, made it harder for regular people to be able to earn a living and save their wealth. The government trend is to make all the wealth in the world (public property) and all the people in the world, serfs...
Fiat Money is money without any financial backing in real wealth. The backing central banks and governments have for Fiat Money is debt, they will replace their present debts with future debts plus interest (at the interest rate that they themselves set). It's like if everybody was playing MONOPOLY (the board game) and the government issued paper money all the time, and with time of course would settle all of their responsibilities with more paper money, more titles of debt of future paper money. While everybody else needs to really and truly work for a living, the government just prints more money. This causes inflation, this causes pressure on the credit available for loans for companies and private citizens because the Government usually offers more paper money and interest, and borrows a lot more money that private citizens and companies do. Plus, Governments hold the monopoly on the armed forces, police and the Judicial Department. If people and Banks stop lending the governments money, then they threaten those people with higher taxes, fines, or even jail time. People and companies need collateral to be able to get loans, the governments, just write more and more titles of debt.
So, instead of talking about Bitcoin, that is just one idea to "replace the current fiat monetary system", what people should be asking and demanding is for a new way to be able to produce, sell and trade without any government intervention, freely and safely.
In the beginning, paper money was backed by real gold or silver. This was until the Bretton Woods agreement where the United States of America decided unilaterally to cancel the Gold Standard (backing of Gold for each dollar) and make the valueless paper money (Dollar) the world's convertible currency. From then on, paper money without any tangible value (real value) has made the world extremely poor (in real wealth), even though in nominal values (amount of paper money) there are a lot billionaires. Slowly but surely, Governments around the Globe have penalized (criminalized) trading with minerals (gold, silver, etc.) have criminalized savings and bank transactions (money laundering), and at each moment, made it harder for regular people to be able to earn a living and save their wealth. The government trend is to make all the wealth in the world (public property) and all the people in the world, serfs...
November 28, 2023
"The Fiat Standard" by Saifedean Ammous presents a critical analysis of the traditional fiat monetary system, contrasting it with the emerging technology of Bitcoin. Ammous argues that fiat currency, which is government-issued and not backed by a physical commodity like gold, inherently leads to a misallocation of resources due to its unlimited supply and the central authorities' control over it. He discusses how this system incentivizes debt and economic behaviors that prioritize short-term gains over long-term stability and growth. The book delves into the historical context of fiat money, exploring its evolution and the socio-economic consequences of its dominance in global financial systems.
Ammous is not just critical of fiat currency but also passionate about the potential of Bitcoin. He sees it as a revolutionary alternative that combines the benefits of gold’s long-term value retention with the ease of transfer that characterizes fiat money. By being decentralized and limited in supply, Bitcoin is posited as a solution to the problems created by fiat currency, such as inflation and the debasement of money's value. According to the author, Bitcoin's structure incentivizes saving over spending and could lead to a new era of economic prosperity and freedom.
For enthusiasts and believers in Bitcoin, "The Fiat Standard" is an affirmation of their stance, providing a comprehensive argument for the necessity of a new monetary system. Ammous's book is a call to rethink our current financial structures and consider a future where this revolutionary digital currency plays a pivotal role in fostering a free-market economy. It is a thought-provoking piece that challenges readers to reflect on the implications of our choices of currency on economic stability, personal freedom, and the ability to plan for the future.
Ammous is not just critical of fiat currency but also passionate about the potential of Bitcoin. He sees it as a revolutionary alternative that combines the benefits of gold’s long-term value retention with the ease of transfer that characterizes fiat money. By being decentralized and limited in supply, Bitcoin is posited as a solution to the problems created by fiat currency, such as inflation and the debasement of money's value. According to the author, Bitcoin's structure incentivizes saving over spending and could lead to a new era of economic prosperity and freedom.
For enthusiasts and believers in Bitcoin, "The Fiat Standard" is an affirmation of their stance, providing a comprehensive argument for the necessity of a new monetary system. Ammous's book is a call to rethink our current financial structures and consider a future where this revolutionary digital currency plays a pivotal role in fostering a free-market economy. It is a thought-provoking piece that challenges readers to reflect on the implications of our choices of currency on economic stability, personal freedom, and the ability to plan for the future.
April 9, 2022
The Fiat Standard was published after Ammous' more popular title: 'The Bitcoin Standard.' It examines Fiat currency, paper money that isn't backed by Gold, as though it were a cryptocurrency token. With the underlying attributes of Fiat currency laid clear, readers can more easily compare it to Bitcoin and Gold.
After outlining the deficiencies of Fiat currency, Ammous then describes the effects of Fiat on our world, ranging from diet and health to architecture and fuel.
Ammous' uncovering the attributes of different kinds of currency over time is laudable, especially when so many of us grow up without questioning if the paper bills we use actually have value.
---
To share in part the attributes of currency that Ammous describes:
There are: Portability, Durability, Transparency, speed of Finalization, Scarcity, and Security (cannot be counterfeited.)
Fiat money scores highly for Portability and has a fast Finalization time. That's it.
Gold scores highly for Durability and Scarcity, and it cannot be debased without people figuring it out pretty quick.
Bitcoin, however, scores highly in all important comparables.
These attributes of money and how Fiat, Gold, and Bitcoin compare against each other is the most important thing to take away from the book. Though, admittedly, the main subject is more about the history of Fiat currency and how it corrupts our societies.
---
As for how this book reads, it's uneven. I was carried away in the beginning. I found it very convincing. But then the chapters on 'Fiat Life' turned me off.
For example, Ammous seems to think that vegetarianism is a hoax put out to further government ends, and he equates non-meat foods with junk food. Many of his arguments are based-on old studies and diet movements. As I'm a vegetarian who hasn't experienced any downsides of eating vegetables and plants, this argumentation is ignorant to the extreme.
Furthermore, Ammous seems to be a climate change skeptic. Yes, I can see his arguments about energy reliability seem to make sense. But at the same time, they show no imagination or forethought.
His chapter on 'Fiat Science' is similar. Normally I never do this, but I skipped parts in the center of this book. And I would recommend you do the same.
---
Despite its faults, I would still recommend the book. So what if a few ideas are ass-backward? If you have an ounce of better information you can brush them aside. The main draw is to think outside of the box and learn to appreciate the sea-change that is cryptocurrencies challenging the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
I am looking forward to getting my hands on The Bitcoin Standard soon.
After outlining the deficiencies of Fiat currency, Ammous then describes the effects of Fiat on our world, ranging from diet and health to architecture and fuel.
Ammous' uncovering the attributes of different kinds of currency over time is laudable, especially when so many of us grow up without questioning if the paper bills we use actually have value.
---
To share in part the attributes of currency that Ammous describes:
There are: Portability, Durability, Transparency, speed of Finalization, Scarcity, and Security (cannot be counterfeited.)
Fiat money scores highly for Portability and has a fast Finalization time. That's it.
Gold scores highly for Durability and Scarcity, and it cannot be debased without people figuring it out pretty quick.
Bitcoin, however, scores highly in all important comparables.
These attributes of money and how Fiat, Gold, and Bitcoin compare against each other is the most important thing to take away from the book. Though, admittedly, the main subject is more about the history of Fiat currency and how it corrupts our societies.
---
As for how this book reads, it's uneven. I was carried away in the beginning. I found it very convincing. But then the chapters on 'Fiat Life' turned me off.
For example, Ammous seems to think that vegetarianism is a hoax put out to further government ends, and he equates non-meat foods with junk food. Many of his arguments are based-on old studies and diet movements. As I'm a vegetarian who hasn't experienced any downsides of eating vegetables and plants, this argumentation is ignorant to the extreme.
Furthermore, Ammous seems to be a climate change skeptic. Yes, I can see his arguments about energy reliability seem to make sense. But at the same time, they show no imagination or forethought.
His chapter on 'Fiat Science' is similar. Normally I never do this, but I skipped parts in the center of this book. And I would recommend you do the same.
---
Despite its faults, I would still recommend the book. So what if a few ideas are ass-backward? If you have an ounce of better information you can brush them aside. The main draw is to think outside of the box and learn to appreciate the sea-change that is cryptocurrencies challenging the dollar as the world's reserve currency.
I am looking forward to getting my hands on The Bitcoin Standard soon.
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