If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you may remember that I wrote an article asking, basically, are Bitcoiners right-wing, left-wing, or just staunch Libertarians. The answer was mixed, at best. It seems Bitcoin can’t be clearly tied to any one political persuasion. Here’s the link to that article:
Is Bitcoin a Right-wing Thing?
Paul Krugman, a nationally syndicated columnist, thinks that, yes, you can connect the dots among those three things. Climate-change denial and being anti-COVID vaccine are generally thought of as being positions taken by those on the conservative side of the political ledger. It’s not universal, of course, but a general observation that seems to hold some water.
First, a little background on Krugman. He’s an economist and academic, educated at Yale and MIT, and also a Nobel prize winner in economics. But here’s what Krugman is most famous (or infamous) for:
Ouch. That was a swing and a miss.
So, just consider where Paul is coming from. He’s not big on the potential of new technologies, to be sure. Krugman has stated that he hasn’t seen a problem that cryptocurrencies actually solve. OK, so he’s fine with fiat currencies that can be printed at will, debasing the value of all existing currency. That’s his opinion, but just how does he connect all of the above “dots?”
In a recent syndicated column, Krugman attempts to tie these concepts together and attribute them to “an intellectually inbred community of very wealthy men.” Wow. Where to begin?
I’ll analyze Krugman’s comments from the aspect of the “cryptocurrency cultism,” as he puts it. First, he throws a pejorative term out there such as “inbred,” so you know he’s not looking at things objectively. Second, he seems to say that crypto, and yes, Bitcoin, supporters are all men. And wealthy men at that. Those two assumptions couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are quite a few prominent female Bitcoiners and developers, and many…
#Climate #Denial #Antivax #Bitcoin #Connect #Dots #Rick #Mulvey #Coinmonks #Sep
