<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Calibri Light";
panose-1:2 15 3 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
{mso-style-name:msonormal;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, May 11, 2016 1:31 PM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] Justifiable Lies<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 2:44 PM, spike <<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net" target="_blank">spike66@att.net</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>States must balance their budgets by law. Currently the Fed need not, does not and cannot. </span><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><br></span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>That lecherous adulterous fellow Bill Clinton that you think should have been kicked out of office did…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>If he really did that (not just by accounting tricks such as raiding Social Security) then we should be working to repeal the 22<sup>nd</sup> amendment and instead elect Bill. We will also need his House counterpart Newt Gingrich. Instead we are looking to Mrs. Clinton who has nothing on her resume but one senate term and an epic fail as SecState. Does this make sense? Why didn’t the Newtster do any better in his half-hearted run? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>>…Republicans have been making that <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>"</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>easily foreseeable</span><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>" prediction for well over a decade so if they were right you'd think we'd see at least a hint of it by now like rising interest rates and growing inflation, but instead both have been at historic lows for years … John K Clark <o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>John, you do realize why interest rates are not going up, ja? If they do, the federal government cannot pay the interest on its own debt. We are then bankrupt: the Fed has run out of other people’s money. In the current paradigm, the Fed not only is unable to pay normal interest rates, it cannot even maintain normal operations without continuous new borrowing. OK now what? My obvious conclusion: the Fed is too big by about a factor of 2, possibly more.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>Having interest rates at 1% for years has consequences: it discourages personal savings. That creates (in the long run) dependence, either on jobs or government safety nets, which results in more concentration of power, which results in more concentration of corruption.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>Interest rates aren’t going up because they cannot. See what happens to all those pension funds set up assuming an average of 6% growth: they are forced into riskier options to maintain the assumed growth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>There are other dire consequences for artificially holding interest rates down. No need for me to list them: you can find out if you want to know.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri Light",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> </span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>