Oh, absolutely, I’m not disputing that the debt can theoretically be paid off in full—that’s exactly what I mean when I say it’s not really a problem that the accounting figure is negative. If that wasn’t the case we’d be in in real trouble. The idea that cash needs to match the face value of debt is a confusion in a debt based economy like ours.
To be honest it didn’t even occur to me that he’d confuse those two issues but I’d agree that it looks like he may have done. It did puzzle me when I first saw the question why Robin Hanson wouldn’t have just said ‘negative’.
Oh, absolutely, I’m not disputing that the debt can theoretically be paid off in full—that’s exactly what I mean when I say it’s not really a problem that the accounting figure is negative. If that wasn’t the case we’d be in in real trouble. The idea that cash needs to match the face value of debt is a confusion in a debt based economy like ours.
Understood. So do you agree Crono really is asking two very separate questions, even though it may seem like they’re the same?
To be honest it didn’t even occur to me that he’d confuse those two issues but I’d agree that it looks like he may have done. It did puzzle me when I first saw the question why Robin Hanson wouldn’t have just said ‘negative’.