<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">On Thu, Sep 29, 2016 at 10:31 PM, spike </span><span dir="ltr" style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><<a href="mailto:spike66@att.net" target="_blank">spike66@att.net</a>></span><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"> wrote:</span><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_-828861200083729128WordSection1"><div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"></blockquote><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><font size="4"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"></span>><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">></div>…If the government is ever going to borrow money, as its been doing nearly every year since 1835, then now is certainly the time to do it when interest rates are almost zero...John K Clark</font></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u><u></u></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"><u></u> </span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>What happens when interest rates go back up?</div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">When circumstances change the correct course of action also changes. If rates are are almost zero as they are now, then borrowing money is a very good idea because a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in ten years. If rates get high again, as they will, then not so much.</div> </font></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_-828861200083729128WordSection1"><div><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:calibri,sans-serif"></span></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>Who loses when the inevitable default happens?</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote><div> </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><font size="4">Why on earth is default inevitable? The government of the USA has never defaulted on its debt and has only come close to doing so once, the USA came within minutes of default on </font></div><font size="4">October 16, 2013<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"> due to a Republican stunt in the congress. Incidentally I changed my lifelong party affiliation from Republican to Democrat on October 17 2013. <br></div></font><span style="font-family:calibri,sans-serif;font-size:14pt"> </span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div></font>There is something we as optimistic future-thinkers really fail to admit: the future holds fewer jobs. Control theory is advancing to the point where all our robot dreams will happen.</blockquote><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><font size="4">That is very true, advances in AI will vastly decrease the number of jobs, but it will also vastly increase the wealth generating capacity that exists on this planet. </font></div><font size="4"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">And although I know Libertarians don't want to hear this, that means if you expect to have any sort of social stability in the future, that is to say if rich people expect their necks not to be chopped off, there is going to have to be some sort of massive wealth redistribution scheme. In </div>2014 the richest 85 people had as much money as the poorest 3.5 billion, in 2015 the richest 80 did, in 2016 the richest 62 did. <div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">The rise of robots and AI will enormously amplify this trend toward inequality, or it would if there wasn't a revolution first, and there certainly will be unless measures are taken to give some of that wealth to the poor and unemployed; after all it's only a matter of time before EVERYBODY is unemployed because no matter what your job is a machine can do it better. And yes I know wellfare runs contrary to the ideology of most on this list, me too, but facts are facts and as Richard Feynman said "</div><i>reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled</i><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><i></i>"</div>.</font></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline">> </div>What happens when we have fewer and fewer workers to pay the bills?</blockquote><div>
<p class="gmail-p1"><font size="4">When everybody is on welfare (and I don't mean almost everybody I mean everybody) then the robots will pay the bills. And if there is not to be a French style revolution complete with guillotines you'd better not have the payments to 62 welfare queens equal the payments to 3.5 billion people. </font></p><p class="gmail-p1"><font size="4"></font></p><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;display:inline"><font size="4"> John K Clark</font></div><font size="4"><br></font><p></p></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>