"The idea that “future generations will pay for our extravagance” in borrowing and financing by our governments is pernicious because it allows us to procrastinate. We can shrug our shoulders and say to ourselves, “Well, sorry kids, but you will have to pay our bills!” We can always find imperious reasons for comitting this deed. “Conditions were dire, we simply had to do it.
What I am getting at, is that our actions always take place in the Present and the effects are always in the Present. Whatever we do here and now, has effects here and now. The idea that we can do something now, and that the effects will come later, thanks to “Finance”, is totally false...”
"...All expenditure is paid in the Present . If you spend your savings, you have paid your expenditure. If you borrowed the money for the expenditure, and spend it, someone else is immediately paying for your expenditure. You don't know who it is, and whoever is paying may not even be aware that he is paying, but Present expenditure is paid for in the Present, not in the Future.
“Financing expenditure” is a myth. All actions in the Present have effects in the Present. If a nation decides to live beyond its means, the result is not delayed into the future by “financing”. That nation becomes poorer in the here and now, as it spends and spends and spends. “Financing” is supposed to obligate future generations to repair the damage, to restore the vanished wealth. It is highly doubtful that they will be willing or able to do so." (Emphasis Mine.)
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