I've been thinking more and more about the wealth gap in Bitcoin lately. I just now read this article:
http://ouishare.net/2013/05/bitcoin-human-based-digital-currency/The point I think is this:
...in a deflationary environment, no one spends money — because whatever you want to buy is sure to become cheaper in a few days or weeks. People hoard their cash, and spend it only begrudgingly, on absolute necessities.
Assuming Bitcoin did eventually replace fiat, would it be the right answer (I found it hard to phrase that) for a just society with a reasonable distribution of wealth (or purchasing power)?
Assuming the early adopters end up being future society's "wealthy elite" (to paraphrase from the discussion forum), what about all the people who only end up receiving BTC in wages that aren't large enough to let them save and accumulate wealth? Will social mobility be worse than it is today?
Nothing gets me thinking more about altcoins than these kind of questions. I'm much more of a socialist than a libertarian and personally I would like cryptocurrencies to help alleviate power and wealth inequality, not simply transfer it from one group to another.