Scott Conger, the mayor of Jackson in the U.S. state Tennessee, took to Twitter on Thursday to vent what appeared like frustrations that had built up for quite some time.
"Every year, our dollar is worth less," he wrote, voicing his concerns about inflation. "6.3% in 2 years. 172.8% in my lifetime."
The only solution to this is Bitcoin, Conger believes: "there is no rebound."
CPI-based inflation has surged in the U.S., with the numbers climbing to a record annual inflation rate of 5.4% in June — a level last reached 13 years ago. Higher inflation had been expected among experts; the Fed recently took to spreading the term "transitory inflation," seemingly in an attempt to calm down the public. But there's no denying the drastic price increase over the last year, and for many goods and services, it is unlikely for those prices to return to pre-pandemic levels.
Whether motivated by these recent events or not, Conger, who in April already Tweeted about potentially allowing payroll conversions to bitcoin for local residents and considered getting involved in bitcoin mining, has now reiterated his pursuit, writing that Jackson's "blockchain task force is looking into how the [city of Jackson] can accept property tax payments in bitcoin and allow [its] employees to DCA [dollar-cost average] in Bitcoin."
Conger's statements have received vocal support from users on Twitter. He is not the first U.S. mayor to endorse Bitcoin: Miami mayor Francis Suarez has been working on making his city a hub for economic activity surrounding Bitcoin, for example by encouraging bitcoin mining.