The difference is, the people whose behavior would be controlled have no say in changing those economic assumptions.
Isn't it exactly the other way round?
For Bitcoin I can at least inspect and understand the economic assumptions, by looking at the source-code or having someone I trust explain it to me.
What are the economic assumptions for the USD? Who can I ask and how do I know they won't lie to me?
Also in terms of democratic recourse I find "learn to code or pay someone" a much lower barrier than "get rich enough to bribe influential politicians".
This is an issue of monetary policy. Bitcoin's monetary policy (the block difficulty) is at the center of the protocol and can't really be changed, whether or not you know how to code. This has the advantage of making it predictable, but the disadvantage of making it inflexible to changes in the economy.
The US Dollar on the other hand is flexible to changing economic realities. The Mint can change the rate of production, and the Fed can change interest rates. We've seen this in the recent recession, where the Fed dramatically lowered interest rates in order to avoid a liquidity trap. There is the danger that the US Gov't might set the wrong monetary policy, either due to corruption or (more likely) incompetence. But to be worse than a fixed monetary policy, they essentially have to be choosing worse than random, which I doubt they'll do over the long run.
> What are the economic assumptions for the USD? Who can I ask and how do I know they won't lie to me?
The Fed can't really lie about the interest rate. I suppose the Mint could secretly hoard bills, but that would be a huge scandal and pretty quickly noticeable if they did it at a large enough scale to make a difference.
But to be worse than a fixed monetary policy, they essentially have to be choosing worse than random, which I doubt they'll do over the long run.
I would argue that we're all collectively part of this experiment right now. We can't tell which is worse because afaik there hasn't been a competing system with a more rigid policy to compare to yet.
The Fed can't really lie about the interest rate.
Well, policy is not so much about what someone has done but more about what they will do.
Both fair points. WRT the second the issue then becomes how well people think the Fed will manage monetary policy. I would still argue "better than not being able to manage it at all", but it is a tougher argument to make.
Well, if you can find someone you trust to explain Bitcoin to you, I'd imagine you can find someone you trust to explain US fiscal policy to you.
As for democratic resource, I don't see how there is any comparison possible between "learn (or pay someone) to code, and then persuade every money-holder to accept your code" and "receive your ballot in the mail, cast your vote for the politician whose money policy you like".
One looks like a frictionless spherical cow, the other looks like an imperfect but still workable democratic process.
if you can find someone you trust to explain Bitcoin to you, I'd imagine you can find someone you trust to explain US fiscal policy to you
That seems very optimistic to me.
The fiscal policy in Bitcoin boils down to a few small chunks of logic; block rewards, difficulty settings, transaction fees. Those are relatively easy to explain even to a non-techie.
And the resulting policy is definitive. It doesn't quietly change. All changes are broadcasted to everybody, and anyone who cares can stay up-to-date.
The US fiscal policy is not only infinitely more complex, it might also have quietly changed before you even finished explaining it to me...
"learn (or pay someone) to code, and then persuade every money-holder to accept your code" and "receive your ballot in the mail, cast your vote for the politician whose money policy you like".
To me the former is a pull-request on github, with open discussion and a realistic chance to get merged. The latter a symbolic gesture, hoping to bring someone in power who might perhaps hopefully one day implement a change that is at least similar to what I had in mind.
Isn't it exactly the other way round?
For Bitcoin I can at least inspect and understand the economic assumptions, by looking at the source-code or having someone I trust explain it to me.
What are the economic assumptions for the USD? Who can I ask and how do I know they won't lie to me?
Also in terms of democratic recourse I find "learn to code or pay someone" a much lower barrier than "get rich enough to bribe influential politicians".