I wrote this to my State Senator, Dave Sires to express my support for Iowa House Bill 246. You can copy and paste to send to your own senator or state congress person.

Senator Sires

I am writing to express my strong support for House File 246, the proposed bill that would allow Iowa’s state treasurer to invest up to 5% of public funds into Bitcoin. As a constituent deeply interested in financial innovation and the economic future of our state, I believe this legislation could mark a pivotal step forward for Iowa.

The Bitcoin, has shown remarkable growth and stability, with a market capitalization now exceeding $1.9 trillion. This bill would not only acknowledge Bitcoin’s legitimacy as an investment asset but also position Iowa as a forward-thinking state in the realm of digital finance. By investing in Bitcoin, Iowa could diversify its portfolio, potentially benefiting from the high returns that Bitcoin has historically provided over the last decade.

Moreover, this move could attract tech-savvy businesses and entrepreneurs to Iowa, fostering a new wave of economic development and job creation centered around Bitcoin. It sends a message that Iowa is open to embracing new economic paradigms that could keep our state competitive on a national and global scale.

I understand there are concerns regarding volatility and regulatory oversight. However, Bitcoin’s integration into state investment strategies has been explored by other states like New Mexico with their Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act. These examples suggest that with prudent management, the risks can be mitigated while still reaping the benefits of this innovative asset class.

I urge you to:

1. Support House File 246 in committee votes and on the Senate floor.
2. Promote education on Bitcoin among your peers to alleviate concerns and clarify the potential benefits.
3. Advocate for a structured approach to ensure that any investment in Bitcoin includes safeguards against market volatility and maintains transparency in how these funds are managed.

Thank you for your time and consideration of this matter. I look forward to seeing Iowa take this bold step towards the future. Please feel free to reach out if you wish to discuss this further or require any additional information.

Sincerely,

$882 billion (2024 interest paid by the US government) is only 2.43% of our $36.3 trillion debt. All debt being currently refinanced is at 4.33% (the current federal funds rate). If the debt is continued to be refinanced at 4% and we end up paying an average of 4% on the debt, the total interest we will be paying could be as high as $1.4 trillion! 

That represents $9,440.83 in interest paid by each of the 153.8 million tax payers, each year!

For this reason, the government has to lower interest rates. The government can’t afford to spend $1.4T on interest each year. 

The total US debt is $36.3 trillion. https://www.usdebtclock.org/#

As of January 17, 2025, the population of the United States was 346,437,156

$36,300,000,000,000.00 debt

346,437,156 people

$104,780.91 debt per person

153,800,000 tax payers

$236,020.81 debt per tax payer

Total Outlays: Up by 10 Percent in Fiscal Year 2024

Outlays in fiscal year 2024 were $6.8 trillion—$617 billion (or 10 percent) more than in 2023. In total, outlays were equal to 23.4 percent of GDP in 2024, down from the recent high of 30.7 percent in 2020, but still above the 50-year average of 21.1 percent.

Total Receipts: Up by 11 Percent in Fiscal Year 2024

Receipts totaled $4.9 trillion during fiscal year 2024, CBO estimates—$479 billion more than during fiscal year 2023. Receipts increased from 16.2 percent of GDP in 2023 to 17.1 percent in 2024, just below the average of 17.3 percent for the past 50 years.

Total outlays (spend) $6.8T – total receipts (taxes) $4.9T = $1.9T deficit. 

 $1,900,000,000,000.00 2024 budget deficit

153,800,000 tax payers

$12,353.71 deficit per taxpayer

Interest Costs on the National Debt

In dollar terms, interest costs reached an all-time high of $476 billion in 2022 and have risen rapidly since then to $882 billion in 2024.

$882 billion is only 2.43% of $36.3 trillion. All debt being currently refinanced is at 4.33% (the current federal funds rate). If the debt is continued to be refinanced at 4% and we end up paying an average of 4% on the debt, the total interest we will be paying could be as high as $1.4 trillion! 

That represents $9,440.83 paid by each of the 153.8 million tax payers.

For this reason, the government has to lower interest rates. The government can’t afford to spend $1.4T on interest each year. 

We can look at Japan as a canary in the coal mine. While the USA’s debt to GDP is about 120%, Japan’s debt to GDP is over 270%. Japan’s interest rate is 0.25%. That is because their debt is so high that they couldn’t afford to pay 5% interest on their debt. This is the future the USA is headed to. 

Below is showing the purchasing power of the Yen to the Dollar. 

If you wanted to buy something in the USA in 2020 and it cost $1 it’d cost 110 yen. 

If you wanted to buy something that cost $1 in the USA in 2025 it would cost $156 yet. 

You need 48% more Yen to buy the same $1 in the USA. 

And that $1 has also lost value over 5 years. The USD also loses about 3% of value a year which over 5 years is 15%. So you’d also need $1.15 to buy today what you could buy in 2020 for $1. 

So things in the USA are getting more expensive for people in Japan. 

I would think that this would result in Japanese people traveling less outside of Japan as the world is getting more expensive for them.

Storing your value in Japanese Yen is a bad idea. 

The USD has had a similar trend against gold. You see the same 5 year performance of gold, in USD below. 

Gold went from $1,500 to $2,700. You’d need 1.8x as many dollars to buy the same 1 oz of gold 5 years later!

Bitcoin has done even more! It is up 10x vs dollars in the last 5 years. Why is this? 

Bitcoin has some base value, that we are unsure of, but on top of that there is the speculative value it has. People are betting on it’s future value.