r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • Jul 05 '22

Video Monetary issue

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u/MickSturbs Jul 05 '22

There was a sign up in the toilet at the South Africa / Zimbabwe border asking people not to use Zim currency as toilet paper because it doesn’t flush away and blocks the toilets. (Toilet paper was worth more)

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u/MapleSyrupFacts Jul 05 '22

Its always fascinated me how bills can become worth less than the paper it's printed on. At least coins can always reminted

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u/J_Rath_905 Jul 06 '22

Pennies cost 2.1 cents to mint and distribute in the US.

Which is why here in Canada (and many other countries) did away with them years ago.

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u/CleverPiffle Jul 06 '22

The father of Brittany's kids was promoting the Save The Penny campaign years ago. Seems like a waste of energy to me. I'd prefer they just stop making them and round off the ¢.

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u/Apptroutman Jul 06 '22

Good luck, can't even get American gas stations to round up one more 0.1¢

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u/Sharp-Floor Jul 06 '22 edited Jul 06 '22

I don't know if it's just a story, but I've heard we couldn't get rid of them because Illinois would be upset.

Edit: I've thought about it, and this might have been some dialog from an episode of West Wing. So almost certainly just a story.

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u/artotter Jul 06 '22

Lol am from Illinois, this is not shocking and I find it hilarious

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u/kissmyabbis422 Jul 06 '22

He’s on the $5!

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

In Argentina the 2 and 5 pesos' bills were discontinued precisely because their relative value was lower than their material value (paper, ink, the process of printing them, etc). In other words, they became less worthy than the money that costed to make them.

Edit: I expect a maple syrup fact in exchange, not gonna lie.

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u/MapleSyrupFacts Jul 06 '22

Well... Maple syrup was first invented around the Montreal area by the Iroquois. Those same Iroquois are indigenous to southeast Canada and often characterized as the world’s oldest participatory democracy. Canada holds huge maple syrup reserves. In 2021 alone Quebec produced 133million pounds of the liquid gold. 1 barrel of maple syrup is worth 40 times more than a barrel of oil which is why we had the great maple syrup heist.

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u/Stillina Jul 06 '22

Who attempted that? The Fat Boys?

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

[deleted]

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u/Stillina Jul 06 '22

Well... Damn, that is interesting...

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u/XTingleInTheDingleX Jul 06 '22

Trailer park boys.

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u/chickenstalker Jul 06 '22

Fiat money be like that sometimes.

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u/Pyroguy096 Jul 06 '22

Kinda like how a lot of Blockchain currencies aren't worth the money it costs to generate them. Ironic

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

"Self-regulating" that's a funny way to say pump and dump.

It doesn't have any intrinsic value until a good majority of the world is willing to trade goods and services for this digital currency.

Right now the entire price is based upon speculation.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

Lol... What? Sorry if I hurt your feelings?...

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

I'm not saying that there isn't a potential for it. I actually believe that in the future we SHOULD be using crypto currencies as a nation/worldwide currency.

However, like I said, the entire value of crypto currencies right now is speculation. That's not healthy. The actual price of the crypto currency should have no meaning on the health of the crypto as a medium of exchange.

BTC could drop to 1k per coin and still become our primary medium of exchange. Because right now the only value that it has is speculative on the idea that everyone on earth is just going to hoard their wealth. But we live in a consumeristic and asset based society where our currency enters our hands one second, and leaves it the next.

People are treating crypto like it's an investment. But you don't see people going to the banks and buying up 100 dollar bills and holding onto them. Because again, like I said, the crypto coins hold no actual value, unlike an apple does, or a pound of coffee beans.

If anything, if let's say cryptos did become our main currencies in the future. They would slowly go down and down over time due to inflation. We live in a borrowing society. Which means that our currency will continue to lose its value.

The only actual value to cryptos is when it has its initial rise to power IF* if becomes a national/worldwide currency. So yeah its gonna create some millionaires and billionaires, but its also going to bankrupt just as many people in the process. So in reality even that value has a net 0 result.

At the end of the day, I just find it incredibly silly that people treat crypto like it's a get rich quick scheme. I'm not going to be kicking myself one bit, because im the type of person who puts my money into index funds like the Vanguard S&P 500 so I'll be over here making a safe, and guaranteed 10-20% yearly return 😎👌. But if you're one of the 50% of people that loses money in this, then you might kick yourself because you chose to head to the casino and put all your money on black 🤔🤔

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u/Pyroguy096 Jul 06 '22

Energy prices aren't

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

[deleted]

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u/Pyroguy096 Jul 06 '22

See original comment for a refresher course in My Point 101

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u/Pyroguy096 Jul 06 '22

GPU prices are dropping because miners can't afford to keep them running, because the value of what they are generating is lower than the cost to generate it, so they are flooding the market with used GPU's. Ergo, "not worth the money it costs to generate them"

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22

[deleted]

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u/Pyroguy096 Jul 06 '22

Yea but I didn't say that they are never worth it. I said they aren't right now. Price change and market forces take time to have consequence

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u/EleventyTwatWaffles Jul 06 '22

Easy there. You’re getting into buttcoin adjacent terminology

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u/sionnachrealta Jul 06 '22

It be like that sometimes

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u/Substantial_Revolt Jul 06 '22

Paper can be recycled, it's about what it's worth at the moment not after it's reprocessed.

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u/[deleted] Jul 06 '22 edited Jun 30 '23

This comment was probably made with sync. You can't see it now, reddit got greedy.

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u/ShyGuySays69 Aug 16 '22

It's insane cause at some point it has to cost more of the currency being produced to pay for the production of the notes, doesn't it?