RE: Improving Understanding of Economic Systems Through Steemit
In the US system column, you say that (paraphrasing here) banks determine which productive enterprises or individuals to contribute newly created currency to. That's definitely the stated goal of the system, but they can do whatever their profit-motive drives them to, which isn't necessarily curative.
For example, if the banks choose to inflate asset prices because they determine their risk exposure too great to instead contribute to actual investments, then they're free to do that (which is what I think is what's been happening over the last two economic cycles at least). There's no mandate (not that I advocate for that sort of thing, it's just how the US system is set up) incentivizing them to adhere to the system's intended goal.
Sorry, that's not very concise, but it's late and I'm not versed at condensing these things like you're so adept at with your whiteboard brainstorms ;).
Yes, good observation. I was intentionally being as generous as possible to show that EVEN IF you look at the most favorable view of the US system, it is still vastly different than the Steem-based system we use and, I would argue, inferior. It's this idea of arguing from a perspective of, "what happens if we accept all of your premises as true?" People have been criticizing the US system for decades from the perspective of, "Your system is corrupt!" to no avail because that changes the discussion to an argument about what is corruption and whether it does or does not exist. By accepting the premises (e.g. that banking sector uses experts to distribute funds based on productivity) you can move on to the question of whether logic or science backs up the claim that your system will achieve a desirable outcome.
Thanks for the very thoughtful comment! No need to apologize for the lack of concision, I'm the same way :)
Agreed. The Steemit system of incentives are set up in a way that's much closer to the stated goal of giving the most resources to the most productive. Value being subjective, that's not so easy for people to wrap their head around. I think it's been working surprisingly well so far, although many here would disagree.