I think I addressed these points in the other subthread and agreed that, yes, in general, technological gains can indeed alleviate budget problems, including af

I think I addressed these points in the other subthread and agreed that, yes, in general, technological gains can indeed alleviate budget problems, including affording food, but it doesn't hold for the example he gave. The comment for a longer reply. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26390606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26390606 >There's a reason we go for economy-level price stability instead of sector-specific. Imagine if the US had a real bumper crop, more corn and soybeans than you could eat: to meet food price stability targets the Fed would be obligated to shrink the money supply until the corn was as expensive as it used to be, and everyone's mortgages, loans, and credit cards would be harder to pay off. That I don't have a problem with. The concern is with the opposite scenario: say the Fed is pumping enough money to raise food prices 20%, but techno wizards increase production efficiency across the board by 20% and exactly cancels it out. In that scenario the Fed should say, "wow, we're pumping too much money", not "inflation is just right", because they've stolen credit for the gains of technology.