[ExI] Food (was: Re: morality)

[spike at rainier66.com]

>...> On Behalf Of efc--- via extropy-chat
Subject: Re: [ExI] Food (was: Re: morality)


On Fri, 19 May 2023, spike jones via extropy-chat wrote:

>>... To top it all off, we are told the US government is now only 12 days 
> until it goes chapter 11.  If that happens, what becomes of all

>...But isn't it a US tradition by now, that after some sabre rattling, just increasing the debt ceiling? ;)

It is.  The difference is that now the house is just saying no more.  For three decades (and possibly six decades) we have been passing the debt to the next generation, on the assumption that they are more numerous and more prosperous.  What happens to that model when the next generation is suddenly less numerous and less prosperous?

>...On a more serious note, why is it so difficult in the US to actually pay off the debt? Is it political climate? Culture? A built in error in the system?

The US keeps electing representatives which promise lower taxes and a bigger share of the proceeds.

>...Many people say, you cannot apply personal finance intuitions to public finance...

I must ask why many people say that.  It has a name: modern monetary theory.

>...but I do not agree with that... Daniel

Nor do I.  I am one who believes in post-modern monetary theory, which holds that modern monetary theory is wrong, that public debt does matter, that no government can operate long term on a borrow as you go basis.  At some point, lenders to the federal government realize how risky those government securities have become.

spike