Thought for the day: Drafty
Jan. 28th, 2025 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
garoteThe rise of blockchain-based "coin" economies, and the buying into them by the lower-middle class, is a direct result of them feeling shut out of the standard avenues of commerce for their young working lives.
From their point of view, boomers and tech magnates own and control the economy, and have found so many ways to twist it in their favor that it's nearly impossible for a young person to get established.
So, why wouldn't these people embrace things like Bitcoin?
If they instinctively believe that all currencies are scams, even the so-called "regulated" ones, then walking into the Shitcoin Casino doesn't seem like a change to them. Except perhaps the newness and obscurity of it can give them some breathing space from the chokehold of previous generations. You don't have to gain enough power to exploit everyone around you, you just have to be sneaky and fast enough to exploit enough of your own peers.
This exact line of thought is also why "prediction markets" - i.e. legalized gambling over an infinite variety of increasingly niche claims - has caught on at the same time. Everything is a race to beat public perception, and scam or be scammed, because productivity and objective truth are both traps for suckers. (Also, fighting your job to unionize can be violent and precarious, whereas blowing half your wages on DraftKings might make you rich.)
Hooray; another ugly monster for the next generation to fight. I might be a little too old and cranky at this point to care.
From their point of view, boomers and tech magnates own and control the economy, and have found so many ways to twist it in their favor that it's nearly impossible for a young person to get established.
So, why wouldn't these people embrace things like Bitcoin?
If they instinctively believe that all currencies are scams, even the so-called "regulated" ones, then walking into the Shitcoin Casino doesn't seem like a change to them. Except perhaps the newness and obscurity of it can give them some breathing space from the chokehold of previous generations. You don't have to gain enough power to exploit everyone around you, you just have to be sneaky and fast enough to exploit enough of your own peers.
This exact line of thought is also why "prediction markets" - i.e. legalized gambling over an infinite variety of increasingly niche claims - has caught on at the same time. Everything is a race to beat public perception, and scam or be scammed, because productivity and objective truth are both traps for suckers. (Also, fighting your job to unionize can be violent and precarious, whereas blowing half your wages on DraftKings might make you rich.)
Hooray; another ugly monster for the next generation to fight. I might be a little too old and cranky at this point to care.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-27 05:04 pm (UTC)Especially in the Bay Area the difference is very visible.
But I wouldn't get involved in helping. First, there are bigger problems. Ukraine, for instance. Second, why don't they, the young people that feel deprived, try to go to Pakistan, or to Guatemala, or to Benin, and help people there? Seems like this lower middle class in America is as egoistic as the upper middle class. Probably it's just a human feature, and the only solution I suggest is to find a good niche and stay there, enjoying one's life. But no. This requires a bit of wisdom, which is rare.