> Contention: The cultural assumption that saving ought to be rewarded is misguided.
This is an odd contention that I don't agree with entirely based on the usage of "rewarded." Interest isn't a reward, it's simply the price of money, and depending on your personal current values/needs/wants (spend now or save now), it can look either like a reward or a punishment.
So this ends up reading only as a topsy-turvy ex-post-facto justification for central bank policy that favors / provides cover for governments that spend more than they earn, which they all do afaik.
I do agree with some elements of your extrapolation though. It is possible that we are going from a world of relative growth to one of stasis. Or, at least, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing if economies do not "grow", especially not in cases where population growth is slowing or even reversing.
This is an odd contention that I don't agree with entirely based on the usage of "rewarded." Interest isn't a reward, it's simply the price of money, and depending on your personal current values/needs/wants (spend now or save now), it can look either like a reward or a punishment.
So this ends up reading only as a topsy-turvy ex-post-facto justification for central bank policy that favors / provides cover for governments that spend more than they earn, which they all do afaik.
I do agree with some elements of your extrapolation though. It is possible that we are going from a world of relative growth to one of stasis. Or, at least, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing if economies do not "grow", especially not in cases where population growth is slowing or even reversing.