Will money terminate us ?

Fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (taxation) and expenditure (spending) to influence the economy.

The best analogy I can think of for present day economic systems is .....

Analogy 1: "The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug."

Economic system behaviour is:

• increasingly detached from national or even international policies;

increasingly detached from any tangible assetts in the sense that asset values are a tiny component compared with (imaginary) promisary values (i.e. money).

increasingly "gamed" by internal relationships and strategies in a multiplying number of markets dealing in promisary symbols (money and investments)

Suggestions about "pulling the plug" are derided by the economic cognoscenti.

Fiscal policy ? This is the fantasy that the larger you make the economic footprint of a national government, the more you gain control of a the national economy.

Analogy 2: The bigger the cancer, the easier to manage the health of the patient.
The reality is that the patient is only healthy if the myriad of complex interlinked body systems are healthy. The healthy body is much more likely to be able to compete in a violent and chaotic world environment.

The role of governments ?

Analogy 3: Governments should be the body armour of each citizen, balancing minimal restriction with the maximum protection against external and internal threats. Exposing citizens to the most reality that they can handle to inculcate resilience, independence and productivity.

In the absence of such citizens, SkyNet deserves to win.