<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><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>> <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark via extropy-chat<br><br><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>On Wed, May 6, 2020 at 4:53 PM Darin Sunley via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=gmaildefault><i><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>> </span></i></span><i>What it ultimately comes down to is they're borrowing against assumed future tax revenue. Which, as I mentioned upthread, works excellently until it suddenly doesn't,</i><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>>…Nice theory but it just doesn't fit the facts. I've been hearing predictions of economic doom from deficit spending all my life, and so has my father. and so has my father's father, but the fact is except for the last 3 years of Bill Clinton's administration (which had a surplus) the US government has run a deficit <b>every single year</b> since 1835, and yet the USA still has the most powerful economy in the world. And no matter how beautiful a theory is if it doesn't fit the facts it must be abandoned.</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'> John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK, assume the USA will never go broke because it never has. This is good news: the shutdown can last indefinitely. The economy never needs to re-open. Why are we paying taxes at all? Why not just borrow it all? Hey this is easy. Deficits really don’t matter.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By the way… what happens when your theory fails?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></body></html>