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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap:break-word'><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><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><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 <extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org> <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark via extropy-chat<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, 19 November, 2025 3:17 AM<br><b>To:</b> ExI Chat <extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org><br><b>Cc:</b> John Clark <johnkclark@gmail.com><br><b>Subject:</b> [ExI] AI, deficit spending, Civil War, trivialities, and madness<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>On Tue, Nov 18, 2025 at 8:58 AM <<a href="mailto:spike@rainier66.com">spike@rainier66.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…You do if you insist on waiting till the last possible second to sell your </span></b><span class=m8067722829208503087gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>B</span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>itcoins. If you insist on wringing every last cent<span class=m8067722829208503087gmaildefault> </span>out of your </span></b><span class=m8067722829208503087gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>B</span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>itcoin …</span></b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> </span><span class=m8067722829208503087gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>John K Clark</span></b></span><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></blockquote><p class=MsoNormal><span class=m8067722829208503087gmaildefault><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> </span></b></span><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><br></span></b><span class=m8067722829208503087gmaildefault><i><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif'>> Last cent out of BitCoin? The last cent IS a BitCoin. The loss is from waiting too long to put every last “cent” into something that cannot be created in arbitrary quantities. It wouldn’t need to be digital currency.</span></i></span><o:p></o:p></p></blockquote><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>… it's also clear that soon millions of Americans are not only going to lose their jobs, they're going to lose any ability that they previously had to make money. And Spike, you're still worried about trivialities like the budget deficit….<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>John, you fail to see the logical contradiction in those two comments.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>The US federal revenue is based on income tax. If millions of Americans lose their jobs and ability to make money, the federal revenue declines. Of course the budget deficit is no triviality, it is of increasing concern.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></b></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…Those millions of Americans are not going to quietly starve to death, so if Civil War is to be avoided the nation's economic safety net is going to need to be <u>radically</u> extended and it needs to be done <u>quickly</u>….<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>I am all for extending the economic safety net. The critical point is to have that net held by a structure which can support it. The federal government is already banging against its credit limit. It is already straining just to make the minimum payments on its credit card bills. That safety net must be held by states.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…But He Who Must Not Be Named and his Republican stooges in Congress are moving in the exact opposite direction…<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Irrelevant. Those guys are all at the federal level. Unreliable safety net holders.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>>…and are dismantling the rudimentary safety net that is already in place as rapidly as they can. It's madness! </span></b> <b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>John K Clark<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>Have we learned nothing from the recently-ended record length US govt shutdown? To end that, all that was agreed upon was a temporary patch, an agreement to keep overspending at the level of the previous overspending until the fed again hits its credit limit, which is about the second week of January, at which time the destructive cycle restarts. I predict another federal shutdown, along with further shutdowns approximately quarterly. This is an example of a support structure we don’t want holding the social safety net. It’s madness!<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif'> </span></b><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>