Best selling author and MSNBC star rants against Bitcoin
Ratigan once had more libertarian points of view
Dylan Ratigan, the New York Times best-selling author and former host at MSNBC just released a YouTube video ranting against Bitcoin. Yes, the same Dylan Ratigan, whom while at MSNBC famously ranted against the unholy alliance between big business and government. Which is why I am shocked that he totally got it wrong today, and no it wasn’t because of one of those silly “Blockchain over Bitcoin” comments.
He actually leveled charges against the very core of what makes Bitcoin so strong. I cringed while watching and it was hard not to compare his comments to Paul Krugman’s interview with Business Insider in 2013, where Krugman painfully said:
“Fiat money if you like is backed by men with guns, right? Bitcoin is not.”
Even though Krugman’s comments were easy to brush off, it was annoying to have to listen to the Nobel Prize winner “authoritatively” speak about something he has no understanding of. This how how felt with Dylan’s comments today.
Dylan rants against bitcoin
Bitcoin Should Not Be Considered Currency
“Currency is only as good as the collateral that is used to back it. Understand that and you can understand how silly bitcoin actually is as the collateral for that currency is nothing more than a mathematical algorithm prosecuted and perpetrated by computers. How can a computer doing math be collateral for a currency? Currency needs to represent the value of society, economy and humanity. Bitcoin is the opposite of that. Think about that and you’ll maybe start to think about currency in a different way. – Dylan Ratigan”
Why this is so upsetting
In addition to writing the bestseller, “Greedy Bastards” or going after the “banksters” on television Mr. Ratigan was also the former Global Managing Editor for Corporate Finance at Bloomberg and his opinions were well rounded and mostly right. In 2009 Ratigan finally left his career in financial reporting, provoked by outrage over the government’s handling of the 2008 financial crisis.
In 2011 during his final moments at the network, Ratigan went on a two-minute-long rant against what he perceived to be the state of politics in the United States government, saying:
“We’ve got a real problem! This is a mathematical fact! Tens of trillions of dollars are being extracted from the United States of America. Democrats aren’t doing it, Republicans aren’t doing it. An entire integrated system, financial system, trading system, taxing system, that was created by both parties over a period of two decades is at work on our entire country right now. And we’re sitting here arguing about whether we should do the $4 trillion plan that kicks the can down the road for the president for 2017, or burn the place to the ground, both of which are reckless, irresponsible, and stupid.”
Goes on to write New York Times bestseller
Ever since leaving his mainstream financial media career he has not shied away from debating the U.S. government on policy and has continued to educate millions in America about money’s often poisonous role in democracy. In his book “Greedy Bastards” he said:
“We are all greedy bastards or at least capable of greedy bastard-like decision making,” he says, “and really the only distinction is that those with great power have a much greater ability when they exhibit that behavior to do damage.… The values that are the antidote to that, revolve around the enforcement of a culture of visibility, which I think is our only actual hope.”
Which is why I find it so unsettling that he came out so strongly against bitcoin. It makes me wonder if he really understands bitcoin or not. After Dylan’s rant in 2011 he said:
“I’m mad as hell. And according to the piles and piles of responses I got after my rant, so are you.”