Crazy Train: April 16, 2013

Disconnected ramblings for the day:

• Nobody is going to travel to Mars until a gallon of water makes it there and back. Until we build a canister that keeps those hydrogen and oxygen bonds from being blown apart by radiation, living things will be staying put.
• Gold is "crashing" today, which means goldbugs have to figure out new rationales (and abandon old ones.) What will they be?
• Collusion of 'powers'
• But gold is still preferable because:
• it's not prone to inflation/deflation (circle one)
• people still value it for (pick any number)
• Manufacturing.
• "It's shiny!"
• "History!"
• "Rarity!"
• Random wackadoodle econ theory
• Insert rhetorical question
• Bitcoin
• Bitcoin reaches prominent discussion just as gold crashes. Why?
• If gold crash is the result of policy decisions, then lack of central mgmt is central appeal.
• If the crash is the result of manipulation, then Bitcoin won't experience bubbles because:
• it can't be manipulated (see: Natural Resources)
• Bitcoiners keep pointing at the trade price (measured in US dollars, in case anyone wondered), but I think its more important to look at what currency they convert Bitcoins TO: (answer: US dollars and apparently, drugs.)
• The illicit trades of the world (blood diamonds, sex slaves, drugs, arms) all still use American cash. I think the dollar is still strongest. When Mexican cartels are caught with boatloads of Euros or Yuan, then I'll reexamine this.