Conversation

I never understand anything about money until I translate it meaningfully into time terms. Like 2T in deficits... how many future years have we mortgaged away, and to what extent? How do we measure that? How many more hours will you have to work for comparable standard of living?
8
49
Replying to and
Really? Please explain why. I agree dividing per person is not enlightening, but per household seems to have some value. Don't say something about corporate taxes. Corporations don't pay any tax, they just collect tax from their shareholders
1
1
Replying to and
It's not like the government is borrowing money on behalf of the citizens, with citizens gaining a pseudo-liability in proportion to the amount of taxes they pay. Most of that debt will never be paid back, and the system depends on it not being paid back.
2
Thought experiment: in a village of 100 farmers, 50 come down with an illness. To maintain their farms in productive condition while feeding them, the other 50 work 2x as hard. It’s that or lose half the humans and their sunk costs.
1
2
Collectivized societal debt merely imposes a structure in such calculations. Tech predictably alters leverage (ratio of retirees to workers has increased 4x but total factor productivity has kept pace), But sudden increase in load means tech productivity falls behind for a while.
2
2
Show replies