During the Great Depression, the world’s leaders relied on the theories of British economist John Maynard Keynes. During the recession that began in the waning years of the Reagan presidency, the U.S. government was advised by master economist Alan Greenspan for the next 19 years.
And now, during the onset of the next Great Recession, Americans have turned to a new master economic theorist for advice and counsel: Gene Simmons. According to a Bitcoin.com interview, the KISS frontman, possibly even more famous for having a long tongue than for his economic acumen, remains bullish on cryptocurrency. This while the rest of the world has begun to worry that the imaginary money created by machines and physically held nowhere and backed by no governments might actually be another word that also starts with “bull.”
Recently, crypto owners have found themselves stuck with worthless bitcurrency, and “digital-access lenders” putting a freeze on withdrawals. Because these are extra-national financial institutions whose accounts aren’t protected by government insurance organizations like the FDIC, as United States bank accounts are.
Simmons built his reputation for business savvy by taking the Kiss band brand, built up over in the late 1970s with the help of rock fans, savvy radio programmers, and millions of dollars in promotion and tour backing from Casablanca Records, the famed disco label whose owner spawned the lead singer of The Strokes.
Simmons then savvily made the business move to slap the KISS logo on any piece of merchandise that would move units, from bumper stickers to caskets. KISS caskets, according to an interview with Simmons conducted on The Howard Stern Show in the early 2000s, would allow the KISS fan to be buried while music from the band blasted through speakers inside.
Simmons, who in 1976 lip-synched “Detroit Rock City” on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special, told Bitcoin.com, a website devoted to making people feel good about the crashing currency,
“Governments, as you know now print money whenever they need it. So, inflation keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
The causes of inflation are actually a little more complex than that, with currency devaluation more being the hallmark of a smaller “banana republic” nation, and less of the state of Las Vegas where Simmons currently resides. Inflation in the United States is usually spurred on by a number of economic factors, including interest rates set by the Federal Reserve and gas prices.
Gene Simmons is selling his house in Las Vegas, and says that he is willing to accept cryptocurrency in lieu of money.
