I'm finally posting this here because Russell Blackford reacted to a throwaway line about fiscal conservatism deep in a thread on Sentient Developments where he had been guest blogging, a thread initially in response to Bryan's (and others') Order of Cosmic Engineers, all, other than the fiscal reference, clearly on topic for Transhumanist discussion.

About money.

We are convinced that we should act as though money was a zero sum game.

But it isn't.

However if enough were to take that simple fact on board sufficiently to act upon it, the whole illusion would topple and nobody has a clear exit strategy.

I'm only willing to mention it here because there is no place online less likely to trigger mass movement.

The very simple fact, which most of us are aware of at another level, is that it is not how much money you have that drives the economy but how much you spend.

Given the way politicians who claim fiscal conservatism have been urging spend spend spend of late, there might even be a risk the penny will drop from other directions.

If it wasn't for some of the other opportunities that may benefit from the Obama administration, I'd be praying (you don't have to pray to to pray) for something a lot deeper than the 1930s depression to give us a real chance to burn dead wood.

The simple truth is: money can't be saved.

What happens when that is realised is anybody's guess.

Hopefully we boomers might even take some responsibility before we shuffle off, but the other 99% of that is a story for another time.

I'm also playing with an unformed meme of equating money with our debt to the natural world which might survive at least as a first approximation.

As usual, though he admits it is outside his areas of specialisation, George Monbiot has an interesting slant.