goldsteinteach

Why is less regulation better?

Bitcoin is unregulated (or very, very lightly regulated). The U.S. dollar is highly regulated. Time tells us that without regulation human beings make very poor decisions that can affect the whole community in negative ways. With no one at the helm when things go poorly you could take the whole community down. Bitcoin has lost a large chunk of it's value, a far worse crash than the U.S. suffered from unregulated mortgage backed securities and the insurance market covering them (credit-default swaps). The U.S. had Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke to lead us through the crisis. Most of the loans they gave were repaid with interest and the U.S. economy is humming again. An active federal reserve benefits all of us in the United States. Bitcoin, it seems, will likely go down with the ship eventually because it is so lightly regulated.

And don't respond with conspiracy nonsense about the Federal Reserve. There actions saved me real money and my investments are all substantially higher than they were during the crisis. Real jobs were saved. Real people got back to work. Perhaps there are larger criticisms that the economy is too lightly regulated, thus leading to too much income inequality. But that's the opposite direction as an unregulated currency.

Love your podcast.

But I am worried you're too nice. Are you too nice, too accommodating?

I became vegan after finding Durianrider on Youtube. I was eating very healthy, but consuming meat and fish occasionally because my running coach said I needed it! I knew it was bad for the environment, bad for my heart, but I didn't want to lose out on anything I might need to perform well. Then I found Durianrider and he said it like it is: here are my blood tests, here's what I eat, I'm fitter and leaner than all of these "fitness gurus", and I'll prove it.

Because you are so nice, so accommodating, so deferential, I wonder if you're actually convincing people to go vegan. If I was someone that just stumbled on your podcast with Ben Greenfield, I might come away thinking Greenfield knows what he's talking about, that his ketogenic diet and hacks are worth trying.

I don't know if I have SAD, but I like to stay on the offense here in Portland. I use a Verilux Happy Light in the morning and when I'm working at a desk. I have the big one.

Are you prepared to limit the speech of wealthy individuals simply because they're wealthy?

Suppose we highly regulated and curtailed campaign contributions, what we would be left with is wealthy individuals and consumers marketing their policies directly to the American people. Every dollar that currently goes to campaign contributions would be shifted to advertising agencies and think tanks. That would be marginally better than what we have now, but not by much. The next step would be to curtail the ability of wealthy individuals to buy advertisements, pay for content on the web, fund studies, and print books. And that is a very illiberal policy.