I love how
@Jeff Booth talks about fiat as a zero-sum game, but it's because I spent a decade of my life studying game theory.
In his book, Harrington on Poker, Dan Harrington explains it really well. He has a concept called M. I won't bore you with the math, but basically it's a way of calculating how long you can last in a poker tournament.
In the beginning of the World Series of Poker, everyone starts with 12,00 big blinds. That means you can wait for premium hands like pocket Aces, Kings, etc. If you lose a large portion of your chips early on, you can't be so picky. If you sit around waiting for pocket aces and you only have 10 big blinds, you'll be blinded out. That means you're forced to gamble, like the late Doyle Brunson wrote about in his book Super System.
People low on chips early I. The game are like people who work minimum wage jobs in the 1970's. They still have a chance for social mobility, but some people still become homeless.
At the end of a poker tournament, everyone has to gamble because most people have less than 10 blinds left. That's why the people at the final table of the WSOP go all-in with hands like King-Two offsuit.
That's what late stage fiat looks like. That's why we see so many people gambling on crypto, sports betting, Polymarket, etc.
In many places in the United States(and many Western Countries), you can't just go to college, get a job making $80,000 a year and expect to qualify for a mortgage anymore.
Like Doyle Brubson said, you have to gamble unless you're one of the chip leaders.
