The Impossibility of Growth

[Fake Boris]

I have a patent. How do I turn it into a car and a house?

[Aeson]

I have a patent. How do I turn it into a car and a house?

Do you really not know what fiat currency is?

[Fake Boris]

Fiat currency can be turned into furniture with a magic wand.

[Aeson]

Of course you could create the money interest free.

Which would be a pretty major monetary reform.

Not really, we've been creating money interest free for much of the last few years. Even if it is a big change ... So?

We obviously have the ability to deal with the problem you're claiming is going to destroy us all.

[Aeson]

Fiat currency can be turned into furniture with a magic wand.

We tend to use cash and credit cards, though they might seem magic to those that don't understand what they represent.

[Fake Boris]

Not really, we've been creating money interest free for much of the last few years. Even if it is a big change ... So?

We obviously have the ability to deal with the problem you're claiming is going to destroy us all.

Money is not created interest free.

The debtor has to pay interest.

[Fake Boris]

As the prices of resources go up, we'll just compensate by writing more books and issuing more patents.

[AAAAAAAAH!]

Yes it does. If there's no growth, the monetary mass will run out as interest is paid.

That makes no sense at all. How do interest payments deplete the money supply?

[AAAAAAAAH!]

I have a patent. How do I turn it into a car and a house?

You don't, the patented idea allows you to make a better car or house using the same materials as before.

[Dinner]

Thank you for showing us all, yet again, that a philosophy degree is worthless, that you got cheated out of your tuition money, and that you can't even form a logically coherent argument.

[Fake Boris]

That makes no sense at all. How do interest payments deplete the money supply?

Interest payments deplete the money supply, unless more credit is created.

However if there is no growth, credit won't be created.

[Fake Boris]

You don't, the patented idea allows you to make a better car or house using the same materials as before.

And what does the corporation do with the extra profit?

Yes you got it.

Extract more resources.

[AAAAAAAAH!]

Interest payments deplete the money supply, unless more credit is created.

No they don't. The Fed isn't lighting a bonfire with the interest they receive on treasuries

[AAAAAAAAH!]

And what does the corporation do with the extra profit?

Yes you got it.

Extract more resources.

The extra profit goes to the shareholders who buy copies of Civilization VII. Corporations actually exist for the purpose of making shareholders richer.

[Fake Boris]

This is hilarious.

People are seriously trying to deny that growth is tied to resource extraction.

If the result of growth is diminution in the use of resources, perhaps someone could try to explain why resource extraction has grown exponentially since the industrial revolution (which is the most significant period of sustained growth the world has ever seen).