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B1: Thiamine
Functions:
- Helps break down sugar and amino acids
- Needed to form the neurotransmitters acetylcholine and GABA
Sources: potatoes, coffee, eggs, beef liver

Vitamin B
Consists of eight water-soluble vitamins described below (these cannot be stored in the body)

Vitamin A
Functions:
- Growth and development
- Immune function
- Healthy skin
- Vision
- Cholesterol conversion into pregnenolone
Sources: milk, cheese, eggs, beef liver

Here I will list essential vitamins and minerals, and their sources. It is my amended version of the list featured in How to Heal Your Metabolism by Kate Deering.

What asset you measure in and what asset you trade for don't necessarily need to be related.

There is nothing wrong with trading goods for dollars. This is more an argument against measuring the changing value of assets across time in dollars.

But if you decided, despite the dollar’s shortcomings, that you want to trade an asset for dollars, you wouldn’t measure your asset in ounces of gold. You’d measure it in dollars, wouldn’t you?

Or are you saying one should never trade assets for dollars?

I was careful to say "It is important to buy assets for significantly less than you think they are worth". Value is certainly subjective (in the sense that things are valued differently by different people).

As for methods of valuation, there are many out there, each with their pros and cons. Discounted cashflow (DCF) valuations are my preferred method as they directly address the purpose of investing: giving up value today in exchange for more value in the future. The key problem with this is that the future is inherently unpredictable, so building a DCF involves educated guesswork and is imprecise.

The flaws in valuation methods are why we should try to buy assets at steep discounts to our valuations of them, in case we are wrong.

Thinking in terms of gold is less arbitrary than thinking in dollars because gold is anchored in physical reality, whereas the dollar is anchored in political decree. When you choose to measure your wealth in a unit just because you want to trade for it later, you are prioritising the convenience of a transaction over the integrity of the measurement.

Measurement requires a constant. If you measure a table with a rubber band, the "length" of the table changes depending on how hard you pull the band. The US dollar is that rubber band. Its supply and value are subject to the whims of central bankers, interest rate policies, and the shifting needs of government deficit spending. Gold, however, is a physical element with a high stock-to-flow ratio. Its total supply grows at a very slow, predictable rate that no person can speed up by decree. Measuring in gold allows you to see the real change in an asset's value, independent of the currency’s volatility.

Gold's value is anchored by the arbitrage of mining. If the value of gold rises significantly, it becomes profitable to mine more, which eventually brings the value back into equilibrium with the cost of production. This creates a feedback loop rooted in physics and labor. The dollar has no such anchor; the cost to "produce" a trillion dollars is the same as the cost to produce one dollar: a few keystrokes. Using a unit that costs nothing to create to measure things that require real work is an arbitrary standard.

https://libertythroughreason.com/consider-this-before-you-have-kids/

It is important to buy assets for significantly less than you think they are worth. The cheaper you buy something, the more margin you have for things to go worse than anticipated.

According to Austrian economics, all value is subjective. How can we then know what an asset is intrinsically worth?

Dollar-Cost Averaging

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is when you invest a fixed amount on a regular basis regardless of market developments.

This practice can work well long term for assets that reflect the value of the entire stock market (or a big part of it).

Long term, we can expect the stock market as a whole to gain value. So if you invest part of your income every month, say, then your position will grow in the long run.

In the meantime, you get to reduce risk by not investing all your money at once. You also get to react to developments that affect the stock market and can decide to interrupt your investment schedule. But I personally like ‘boring’ investment strategies, meaning strategies that are automated and reliable.

I think it would be arbitrary to measure the value in any unit that you aren’t hoping to trade your asset for.

For example, if you eventually want to get gold in exchange for your asset, measure the number of ounces your asset is worth and sell at an opportune time.

If you want to get dollars, measure your asset in dollars. Etc.

I don’t see how it matters for his argument. The value of anything fluctuates.

But gold isn’t fiat. The government can’t create more gold out of thin air.

Wiener’s critique of the dollar applies to gold, too. Both fluctuate. I see no rational preference for gold following from his argument.

Yes I think so.

Emoji reactions (#2159) are implemented as of ea482fb.

Wiener says the dollar can go up or down in value (usually down; prices usually rise).

He suggests that, due to this volatility, measuring the value of something in dollars is like measuring the width of a physical object using a rubber band. He implies that this measurement is unreliable and arbitrary because you can ‘stretch’ it just like a rubber band.

He concludes that we should measure the value of something in ounces of gold instead.

Am I understanding Wiener correctly?

Funny you bring this up the day gold makes its biggest single-day USD move in history 👀

Measuring the stock market in fiat is more arbitrary than measuring it in gold.

A short video relating to that:
https://youtu.be/AGNvdN1Lw9A?si=b5vO7kx_pTRgEgrZ