Do you recall the 2008 financial crisis by any chance?
In almost all the examples I provided in that long list of US bank collapses, these were precipitated by withdrawals as those with funds panicked.
Wikipedia has a list of bank runs worldwide since the 1930s and even older. I'm going to ignore the foreign runs because they generally related to unsophisicated bank regulations (though not always.)
In the United States there have only been two
bank runs since 1930: Washington Mutual and Wachovia, both casualties of the 2008 financial crisis. Again, I am ignoring mortgage lenders like Countrywide and IndyMac and investment firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman because they were not subject to the same banking regulations as depository banks.
Office of Thrift Supervision reglators seized Washington Mutual when the "run" reached about 5% of deposits. This is evidence of the strong regulatory framework that existed even before the crisis and controls and capital requirements are much stronger now. Wachovia was seized the next day after a 1% run.
While I accept wikipedia categorizing these as "runs," they are hardly the scary spectres that should cause anyone to avoid US banks in favor of cryptocurrency! It's almost as ridiculous as saying everyone should have another planet to live on because aliens might invade earth!
As for "moneyprinting," I explained upthread how the US money supply relative to GDP has been pretty stable for at least a century. Sure, it has fluctuated some as the Fed used it as a policy tool to deal with widescale economic challenges but it is far from alarming.
Many people, including me, scratch their heads as to why all the loose money after 2008 did not lead to inflation. I chalk it up to evidence that the economy was in worse shape than anyone thought and it needed the stimulus just to recover. You cite decline of the USD yet I can buy yen, AUD, CAD, etc. for about what I paid 40 years ago. Yes, bread and milk cost more but if the cause were "money printing in the United States" you'd see it in exchange rates.
During Covid much of the US and world economy shut down for a long period. That led to a few trillion $ in contraction. So refilling that with a few trillion in stimulus should also not be alarming. The Fed stands ready to start tapping the brakes as soon as the data supports it. Even the announcement of taper and interest rate hikes will probably be evident in the next set of data released. I do expect a few years of ~6% inflation for reasons explained in another thread but that has to do with the disruption, not anything the Fed or any government is doing.
Bitcoin has been a great sepeculative instrument
in the past and may have some utility to criminals and subjects of dictators. But for people like me, it has little attraction. I don't see myself using bitcoin to buy groceries or furniture...ever. I don't rule out buying a small speculative position if it drops in value again by 60-75% but that is where my interest ends. It is not an investment that one can analyze and make an informed decision. It is a crapshoot. (And I've played craps so that is not at all a judgement, just an observation and anyone buying bitcoin is gambling not investing.)
