<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">My wife and I feel really protected: Medicare is not going under; my pension is not going under; I have no debt other than a mortgage. It would take massive changes in our economy to alter any of that. I do feel for people who are out of work. In other countries,like Britain, people who are off are guaranteed their jobs back. Not here.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">BTW - online learning doesn't work well according to an article in the Washington Post. Over summer students lose large percentages of their math skills, for one - called summer slide. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">bill w</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Apr 8, 2020 at 10:28 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div lang="EN-US"><div class="gmail-m_7972755786895163001WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">> <b>On Behalf Of </b>William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [ExI] reasonable what ifs<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">>>…<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34)">What I am doing is envisioning a new normal where people generally don’t do the high-luxury stuff nearly as much</span>…<span style="color:rgb(136,136,136)">spike<u></u><u></u></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">>…<span style="color:rgb(136,136,136)">Lotsa luck getting people to lower their standards of living voluntarily. What you describe would appear to most folks as what went on in the Depression (which was far worse, but they don't know that). If people can afford luxuries, they will buy them - ditto all the other things you mention.</span><u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(136,136,136)">Most people out there are not minimalists like you , Spike.</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(136,136,136)">bill w<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Of course. I am not suggesting any form of personal austerity would be voluntary. I am envisioning people who once worked in businesses much more in demand (higher end restaurants for instance) transitioning in to fill a much greater need that pays less (boxing groceries for delivery.)<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps one of the biggest transitions will be dependent on one’s debt load. I have always considered it a very bad idea to carry debt beyond what is necessary. Carrying debt bets on the future being like the past. That works, right up until it suddenly doesn’t. But the lender still wants and fully expects her regular payment in full on time even if your salary suddenly dropped to half what it was before.<u></u><u></u></p><p class="MsoNormal">spike<u></u><u></u></p></div></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>
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