Bitcoin, Money Printing, and the Economic Problems of Today

Junseth joins Brad Mills for a discussion about economics and finance. Some think that many of the world’s problems can be traced back to the federal reserve, and the printing of money. Junseth makes a cogent argument throughout that things are a bit more nuanced than this perspective would lead you to believe. Many financial concepts are discussed in this episode, making it an ideal listen for those of you wishing to gain a broader understanding of market dynamics and macro economics. Savings, derivatives, Doge, DeFi, and of course, Bitcoin are all discussed within! Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:22 - Junseth introduction and Bitcoin Conference 00:03:12 - Bitcoin Maximalism vs Crypto 00:05:40 - Junseth’s History with Bitcoin Uncensored Podcast 00:08:00 - How to be a good trader 00:09:36 - Elon Musk to take over Dogecoin 00:11:05 - No Oracles in Bitcoin 00:11:55 - The Mission of Junseth 00:14:58 - DeFi is a lot like a ponzi scheme 00:17:38 - Money and the Federal Reserve 00:19:50 - Junseth says we might be in a deflationary period 00:21:32 - Bitcoin is the thing itself that is valuable 00:23:20 - Applying politics to Bitcoin and modern monetary theory 00:25:40 - Will the government collapse? Or just the dollar? 00:26:42 - Civil war between Conservatives and Liberals 00:28:40 - Bitcoin as an end of the world hedge 00:29:38 - El Salvador experiment conversation about the USD 00:32:20 - Bitcoin reinvents the entire monetary infrastructure 00:35:40 - Making more sense to take on as much debt as possible 00:37:00 - Is inflation real? Is there actually inflation around? Where can we find inflation 00:41:26 - Are salaries rising at the same pace as inflation? 00:43:02 - Quality of life going up over time, easier to buy a good computer for cheaper today 00:45:40 - Where is inflation showing up in the economy? 00:48:50 - Collectibles and Investments in the economy. The power of index funds, and diversification. 00:52:40 - Story of FedEx employee who saved and indexed for 50 years 00:55:25 - Did the federal reserve unwind the quantitative easing that they did? 00:57:00 - Why does the federal reserve target inflation at 2%? 01:00:30 - Managing a portfolio to always be in the asset that is likely to go up 01:02:00 - Who benefits from inflation? Inflation is a tax on foreign companies holding USD. 01:04:40 - People 50 years ago were much more entrepreneurial 01:05:30 - Millennials have more savings than any other generation that has come before 01:06:50 - Renting vs Owning. Can millennials own houses with their current income/wealth level? 01:09:55 - Government Policy is the cause for irresponsible loans 01:11:41 - Putting money in Bitcoin vs stock market in 2011. How much risk would each be? 01:13:20 - Bitcoin is an asymmetric risk. Good opportunity for young people. 01:14:35 - Bitcoin is digital gold, and Brad was buying silver, gold, and also Bitcoin. 01:16:50 - Why does Junseth think Bitcoin is going up? 01:19:00 - How to buy a house with 3% down in Canada vs the USA. Index Funds vs House. 01:27:30 - Brad’s case for why things are not going to continue in the “business as usual” fashion. 01:31:30 - What does it look like for the stock market or economy to take a turn? 01:33:30 - Is there a lot of suffering nowadays? 01:43:01 - Would people care about the economy if they knew how it worked? 01:47:30 - Discussion on Libertarianism, UBI, and Milton Freedman 01:53:22 - Do people hold dollars? Junseth says most people don’t hold dollars 01:58:20 - Discussion on whether or not money printing causes all bad things? 02:04:00 - The morality of how money is made 02:07:03 - Buffet getting a call from the fed when the 2008 crash occurred 02:10:33 - Rich people suffer more during a market downturn 02:14:44 - Kids and graduating college kids are roped into credit card debt 02:17:30 - In depth discussion on brads upbringing, and his experience with debt 02:24:55 - Credit card debt is not collateralized, so you never need to pay it back 02:29:02 - Fractionalization of money within the banking infrastructure 02:33:50 - Do bank executives make too much money for their position? 02:39:22 - Discussion as whether or not you can own volatility 02:49:50 - What are derivatives? How did derivatives play into the 2008 crash? What are inside collateralized debt obligations? 03:00:00 - The five things to fix society! 03:03:45 - Discussion on COVID-19 and its causes, elaboration on crisis 03:12:55 - Brad brings things back to the central bank printing money 03:20:00 - Wrapping up, Closing Thoughts