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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" 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>BillK via extropy-chat<br><b>…</b></span><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></span></div><h3><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>Summary Verdict<o:p></o:p></span></h3><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>The commenter is <b>fundamentally correct</b> in arguing that rigid fiscal austerity and 20th-century labor-centric frameworks cannot survive the AI transition. Insisting on a balanced budget while the world undergoes an industrial and cognitive revolution is like refusing to buy a steam engine because you want to keep your horse-and-buggy budget intact.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>However, the idea that <b>"everything"</b> must be thrown out is dangerous techno-determinism. You can discard balanced-budget dogma, but you cannot discard:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>1. Physical resource limits</span></b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'> (energy, materials).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>2. Monetary realities</span></b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'> (inflation, interest rates, currency credibility).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>3. Political philosophy</span></b><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'> (power distribution, equity, and human dignity).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>The goal isn't to operate without an ideological and economic framework—it is to build a new one capable of governing a world where intelligence is abundant, but the physical resources and human wisdom to direct it remain scarce.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black'>----------------------------<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal>BillK, several AIs missed something really important in that list of things that cannot be discarded: debt.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A government can devalue its currency and diminish its debt, but it still owes the bond holders. Devaluing its currency comes at a price: its borrowing cost goes way up. If it gets carried away with devaluing its currency, a government may find itself unable to borrow. Yanks fail to realize how little they would be able to get from the federal government unable to borrow money. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The AIs appear to be fans of modern monetary theory, however it doesn’t do much with post-modern monetary theory, which posits that modern monetary theory is incorrect. We had a good explanation of modern monetary theory by a former economic advisor:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fj0zRmEWYc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fj0zRmEWYc</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK that clears it up.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p><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></body></html>