Technology & Economics

The Price of Tomorrow

Why Deflation is the Key to an Abundant Future

By Jeff Booth

🤖 Technology 📉 Deflation 💡 Abundance
🚀
The Price of Tomorrow
Jeff Booth

⚡ Quick Summary

Jeff Booth argues that technology is inherently deflationary—it naturally drives prices down and creates abundance. However, our debt-based economic system requires constant growth and inflation to survive. This creates a fundamental conflict: we are fighting the natural force of technology with ever-increasing debt, leading to a world where we must choose between deflation (accepting abundance) or hyperinflation (system collapse). Booth makes the case that embracing deflation, enabled by technologies like Bitcoin, is the path to a prosperous future.

📑 What You'll Learn

01

Technology is Deflationary

 02

The Debt Trap

 03

The Coming Disruption

 04

The Great Divide

 05

Two Paths Forward

 06

Embracing Abundance
Chapter 1

Technology is Deflationary

Jeff Booth opens with a simple but profound observation: technology makes things cheaper. This is not a bug—it's the entire point. From agriculture to manufacturing to information, technology's purpose is to do more with less.

📉 Examples of Technological Deflation

📸
Photography

From expensive film & development to essentially free digital photos.

📞
Communication

Long-distance calls went from $1/minute to free via internet.

🎵
Music

From $15 CDs to unlimited streaming for $10/month.

💡
Lighting

An hour of light cost 6 hours of work in 1800; today it's a fraction of a second.

🔑 Key Insight

Technology follows an exponential curve. Moore's Law (computing power doubles every ~2 years) applies across many fields. This means the rate of deflation will accelerate, not slow down.

If technology naturally makes things cheaper, why don't we see falling prices everywhere? Because, Booth argues, we are actively fighting this natural deflation with money printing and debt.

Chapter 2

The Debt Trap: Fighting Deflation

Our economic system is built on debt. Money is created when banks issue loans. This system requires perpetual growth to service the interest on that debt. But what happens when technology is pushing prices down while the system requires them to go up?

🔄 The Vicious Cycle

1
Technology Pushes Prices Down

Automation and efficiency make goods cheaper.

2
Deflation Threatens Debt

Falling prices mean debts become harder to repay (debt deflation).

3
Governments Print Money

Central banks create money to fight deflation and stimulate "growth."

4
More Debt is Created

Low interest rates encourage more borrowing, increasing total debt.

5
Repeat (at larger scale)

Each cycle requires more intervention than the last.

🔑 Key Insight

Global debt has grown from $84 trillion in 2000 to over $300 trillion today. This isn't a sign of prosperity—it's evidence of a system fighting an unwinnable war against technological deflation.

Chapter 3

The Coming Disruption: AI, Automation, and Jobs

Booth, a tech entrepreneur himself, describes the coming wave of disruption. Artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation are not just incremental improvements—they represent a fundamental shift in how work is done.

🚗
Transportation

Self-driving vehicles will disrupt millions of driving jobs.

🏭
Manufacturing

Robots already outperform humans in speed and precision.

🧠
Knowledge Work

AI is now writing code, analyzing data, and diagnosing diseases.

The key point isn't that "robots will take all jobs"—it's that technology creates abundance. If a robot can make a car for 1/10th the cost, cars become accessible to everyone. The problem is our economic system, which requires employment and wages to distribute resources. If machines do the work, how do people earn money to buy the abundant goods?

Chapter 4

The Great Divide: Winners and Losers

Booth explains how the current system exacerbates inequality. When central banks print money, it doesn't go to everyone equally. It flows first to asset owners (stocks, real estate), inflating their wealth, while wages stagnate for ordinary workers.

📈 Winners

  • • Asset owners (stocks, real estate)
  • • Those closest to money creation (banks, corporations)
  • • Tech companies riding exponential growth
  • • Anyone who can borrow cheaply

📉 Losers

  • • Wage earners (salaries don't keep up)
  • • Savers (inflation destroys purchasing power)
  • • Small businesses (can't access cheap credit)
  • • Future generations (inherit the debt)

🔑 Key Insight

The rise of populism around the world is a symptom, not a cause. People sense the system is rigged, even if they can't articulate why. The real culprit is a monetary system that transfers wealth upward while technology should be spreading abundance downward.

Chapter 5

Two Paths Forward: Deflation or Hyperinflation

Booth presents a stark choice. The current path of fighting deflation with ever-more debt is unsustainable. Eventually, one of two things must happen:

🌱

Path 1: Accept Deflation

Allow prices to fall naturally. This would require debt restructuring and a painful transition, but leads to a world of abundance where technology benefits everyone.

  • ✓ Savings gain purchasing power
  • ✓ Goods become affordable
  • ✓ Sustainable long-term
  • ✗ Painful debt defaults
🔥

Path 2: Print Until Collapse

Continue printing money to fight deflation. This delays the pain but makes the eventual collapse worse—potentially leading to hyperinflation and societal breakdown.

  • ✓ Delays the reckoning
  • ✗ Currency debasement
  • ✗ Worsening inequality
  • ✗ Eventual systemic failure

Booth argues that Path 2 is what we are currently on. Every crisis (2008, 2020) is met with more money printing. But you cannot print real wealth—only redistribute it. Eventually, confidence in the currency collapses.

Chapter 6

Embracing Abundance: Bitcoin and the Future

Booth sees Bitcoin as a potential solution—a technology that enables a graceful transition to a deflationary world. Unlike fiat currency, Bitcoin's supply is fixed. It is designed to gain purchasing power over time, aligning with the natural trajectory of technology.

₿ Why Bitcoin Fits a Deflationary World

1
Fixed Supply

21 million coins, ever. Unlike fiat, it cannot be inflated.

2
Rewards Saving

If goods get cheaper in Bitcoin terms, saving becomes rational again.

3
Global & Neutral

Not controlled by any government, accessible to everyone on Earth.

4
Technology Native

Born of the digital age, suited for an increasingly digital economy.

🔑 Key Insight

The "price of tomorrow" is falling. Technology makes everything cheaper. The question is: will we embrace this abundance with sound money, or will we destroy our economies fighting the inevitable?

Booth is not anti-government or anti-work. He acknowledges the transition will be difficult and require new social structures (perhaps including some form of UBI funded by productivity gains). But the first step is recognizing the root problem: a debt-based money system fighting against technological progress.

📝 Key Takeaways

📉

Technology = Deflation

The natural result of technological progress is falling prices and increasing abundance.

💳

Debt vs. Deflation

Our debt-based system requires inflation to survive. It is fundamentally at war with technological progress.

⚖️

Growing Inequality

Money printing inflates asset prices, benefiting the wealthy while wages stagnate for everyone else.

🌅

Abundance is Possible

With the right monetary framework (like Bitcoin), we can embrace a future where technology benefits everyone.

Final Thoughts

"The Price of Tomorrow" is a wake-up call from a successful entrepreneur who sees the collision course we're on. Jeff Booth doesn't offer easy answers, but he clearly identifies the problem: we are using outdated monetary technology in an age of exponential progress. The book is a compelling case for rethinking our assumptions about money, growth, and what prosperity really means.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Essential Reading
A must-read for understanding the future of money and technology.

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