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Re:Jevons Paradox by pixl97 on Friday November 03, 2023 @01:27PM (#38132031)
I mean, I can click a button on a computer, and boom, you're a billionaire. But if I do it for everyone, without the corresponding increase in production of things that are wanted then inflation explodes.

Some things like software don't have to follow these inflationary paradigms, but things like land definitely do. This is what I'm warning about that we're running on borrowed time with cheap labor unless we replace it with automation. All your 'wealth' will quickly disappear in inflation.

Re:Jevons Paradox by pdonis on Friday November 03, 2023 @03:20PM (#38133755)
> I can click a button on a computer, and boom, you're a billionaire.

So you work for the Federal Reserve? They're the ones who are allowed to print money. (Which, as you note, will cause inflation if we don't increase the production of goods and services. But even if we do, it is still a transfer of buying power from those who don't get the newly printed money to those who do. Which means from everyone who isn't a financial institution, to financial institutions. Which is why the financial institutions lobbied to get the Federal Reserve created in the first place.)

> things like land definitely do

I'm not sure what you mean by "inflationary paradigm". Land is one of the few things of economic interest that (a) actually does have a finite, limited supply, and (b) can't be replaced by other substitutes for important uses. But that has nothing to do with inflation. It would be the same if the money supply were fixed forever.

> we're running on borrowed time with cheap labor unless we replace it with automation

Which will happen (in fact it has already been happening for decades now) due to natural economic incentives as labor becomes more expensive (which I agree will happen over time as more people gain access to a higher standard of living). The biggest obstacle to it continuing to happen is, as I said, misgovernment.