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You can cancel debts of the past and borrow for the future. If you happen to unlock a new level of productivity by doing so, you could possibly get your lunch f

You can cancel debts of the past and borrow for the future. If you happen to unlock a new level of productivity by doing so, you could possibly get your lunch for free based on the future productivity catching up to your spending.

hurhevdg 5y ago
It still won’t be free for at least two reasons: 1. By the time you must repay the debt you will need to curb your consumption to less than the future production’s capacity. 2. During the initial borrowing phase you will increase consumption relative to other participants, curtailing their utility.
xyzzyz 5y ago
"Debt" means that someone deferred their consumption in the past, and gave their claim on production to you, so that you will repay them with increased claim on production in future. What you propose here amounts to the following: renege on the past claim to past debtors, and tell them that not only you won't give them extra production, but in fact the claim on production that they voluntarily decided to defer and give to you, is now gone forever. At the same time, since you cannot actually borrow resources from the future, any more than you can irrigate your plants today with next month's rain, what your "borrowing for the future" means is that you'll ask people to voluntarily defer their consumption, and instead pass on their claim on production to you, with you promising them to repay them with an increased claim on production in future. Let's hope that your new debtors don't feel discouraged by you just reneging on that promise to others, and believe that this time it will be different!
gruez 5y ago
>You can cancel debts of the past and borrow for the future who's going to lend you money "for the future" if you've just shown that you will arbitrarily "cancel debts of the past"?
- scsilver 5y ago
  The fed is effectively doing this right now with low interest rates. Diluting old debts (pay off early 2000s mortgage with modern wages) and cheapening the cost of new ones, (borrow at 4% when inflation is running around 5%). We all buy into it for one reason or another but the ultimate thing underpinning this dynamic is that capital trusts the US the most amongst all other debtors.
  - syshum 5y ago
    The winds are shifting on that... The fed actions are a large part of why. It is extremely arrogant to believe that the world will continue to allow the USD to be manipulated by the fed with no action by other nations. It is a denial of history, combined with a Normalcy bias that have people falsely believing the USD will always be king
    - scsilver 5y ago
      Personally I would love to see other nations and organizations get to the level of trust the US has with creditors. Alternatives are being sought, but the the same time, I'm not seeing any particular institution taking the lead.

hurhevdg 5y ago

It still won’t be free for at least two reasons: 1. By the time you must repay the debt you will need to curb your consumption to less than the future production’s capacity. 2. During the initial borrowing phase you will increase consumption relative to other participants, curtailing their utility.

xyzzyz 5y ago

"Debt" means that someone deferred their consumption in the past, and gave their claim on production to you, so that you will repay them with increased claim on production in future. What you propose here amounts to the following: renege on the past claim to past debtors, and tell them that not only you won't give them extra production, but in fact the claim on production that they voluntarily decided to defer and give to you, is now gone forever. At the same time, since you cannot actually borrow resources from the future, any more than you can irrigate your plants today with next month's rain, what your "borrowing for the future" means is that you'll ask people to voluntarily defer their consumption, and instead pass on their claim on production to you, with you promising them to repay them with an increased claim on production in future. Let's hope that your new debtors don't feel discouraged by you just reneging on that promise to others, and believe that this time it will be different!

gruez 5y ago

>You can cancel debts of the past and borrow for the future who's going to lend you money "for the future" if you've just shown that you will arbitrarily "cancel debts of the past"?

scsilver 5y ago
The fed is effectively doing this right now with low interest rates. Diluting old debts (pay off early 2000s mortgage with modern wages) and cheapening the cost of new ones, (borrow at 4% when inflation is running around 5%). We all buy into it for one reason or another but the ultimate thing underpinning this dynamic is that capital trusts the US the most amongst all other debtors.
- syshum 5y ago
  The winds are shifting on that... The fed actions are a large part of why. It is extremely arrogant to believe that the world will continue to allow the USD to be manipulated by the fed with no action by other nations. It is a denial of history, combined with a Normalcy bias that have people falsely believing the USD will always be king
  - scsilver 5y ago
    Personally I would love to see other nations and organizations get to the level of trust the US has with creditors. Alternatives are being sought, but the the same time, I'm not seeing any particular institution taking the lead.