WHO KNEW THEY COULD FIND SOMETHING WORSE THAN GOLD?:

Our laissez-faire friends were the first crypto enthusiasts. The US dollar, they say, is a "fiat currency." Since we dropped the gold standard, it is no longer based on real wealth -- unlike Bitcoin, which is generated in huge warehouses full of computers known as blockchain mines (you can't make this stuff up).

Libertarians also like crypto because it's not issued by the government. Crypto-based transactions are harder to trace and tax. Naturally, this also makes it harder for the government to protect consumers if (say) a crypto exchange chief decides to take their money and flee to the Bahamas.

Now, for the principled libertarian, that's all fine. He takes a Darwinian view of economics. Anyone stupid enough to fall for a Ponzi scheme deserves to lose their money. But the FTX scandal has shown that crypto itself is a Ponzi scheme. And libertarians fell for it -- hook, line, and sinker.

This is hilarious, because the movement's whole brand is based on the idea of the libertarians as shrugging Atlases. They're on the cutting edge of finance and technology. They could take over the world! But the state holds them back. It kills their creativity with red tape and forces them to support lesser men through heavy taxation.

In reality, libertarians are selfish and dumb. I'd hazard to guess that they're dumb because they're selfish.

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