I haven't looked into it deeply, but Oil & Gas have been getting massive subsidies for decades. Society needs energy and energy often requires massive investment upfront. I think if solar got the same subsidies that Oil & Gas have received, it would be way further along in development.
I disagree about a Government needing to be profitable.
Part of the point is to be unprofitable.
A library, for example, shouldn't be profitable. The benefits of a library are a better educated population that can solve more complex problems and generate even greater GDP. Libraries are amazing investments for a region and a community, but terrible short-term profit-generators.
I'm sure you're aware with how amazingly terrible PG&E is. They've killed at least 127 people, caused millions in damage, etc, all because it's not profitable to maintain their infrastructure. If PG&E was government-run that wouldn't be an issue.
I agree that Bitcoin isn't a waste of energy, especially compared to financial institutions, but it is pretty sickening when Bitcoin miners find that restarting old coal plants is the most profitable way to power their servers. I hate all of that.
This is a very good example of a proper usage of subsidies.
The question then becomes, how do we pay for such a thing?
Gov demands tax dollars... why? Because they don't control the money.
Hive would just print the money through the DHF and build the library.
One of these solutions has a future within permissionless systems, and one does not.
That's a very "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" issue.
The propaganda says we need to throw the baby out.
They're liars.
No surprises there.
What many do not seem to understand is that the main byproduct of mining is heat.
We should be focusing on repurposing the heat in a useful way.
This eliminates 95% of the electrical 'waste' of Bitcoin mining.
Theoretically it also creates decentralization (like if we heat homes with it).
My local library the kids just use the free computers and wifi to play minecraft. 🤣
Hahaha, learning the most essential skills.
I totally understand what you're saying, and the DHF and Hive printing/inflation is clearly superior here.
I'd push back a little on your summary of the Govt though. The Govt does control the money doesn't it? The US Govt printed trillions for the Covid PPP loans for example. The tax collected in the US is miniscule compared to Government spending, and my understanding was that it's main purpose was to force its citizens to use USD for at least that. Regardless, it doesn't really matter, your point on the DHF is excellent.
Is the propaganda lying about coal plants? They deaths they cause from their pollutants is huge... and heat is extremely hard to move. So much heat energy is lost in the coal mining process, the whole reason the coal plants are used to generate electricity (to heat homes for example) is because electricity travels so well and heat does not.
Under capitalism, Bitcoin miners are always going to go for the cheapest power, regardless of how it's generated.
I love the idea of everyone heating their homes with Bitcoin miners, but I'm not sure how plausible or likely that is. I'd say it's possibly more likely that battery makers build miners in to use excess power when batteries are full from solar, etc.
Yea I’d push back much more then a little myself. This is getting ridiculous is my take.
“ I'd push back a little on your summary of the Govt though “