I feel that in a sense, "we" (the collective society) can do a lot because of the productivity growth from technology "afford" (enable) us.
In another sense, what "we" (part of that society -- an individual, a group, a government) can do is limited by what we can "afford" (pay). We cannot command the bricks and mortar and steel and cement and labor and architects to build houses and infrastructure without some form of compensation -- money for the architects and builders and cement/steel/mortar/brick makers and movers to exchange for food, drink, and shelter.
And in this grim budget situation, "we" (the government) are running out of ways to ask for productivity (goods and services for healthcare, education, welfare, defense) because we are out of ways to compensate the providers.
What can a government do then?
- force them to offer productivity without equal compensation (communism, colonialism, slavery, forced labor, cheap labor, unequal trade agreements, etc.)
- promise to repay them later (government bonds)
- give them something that they think is valuable but is less so and decreasingly so (money printing)
- encourage giving without compensation (charitable work and donation)
- repay them with compensation collected from those who benefited the most from the economic productivity growth (taxing)
I think the quote "We can afford what we can actually do" encourages the audience to think more about what we (as a society) can do and less about how we (the individual) are compensated.
I feel that in a sense, "we" (the collective society) can do a lot because of the productivity growth from technology "afford" (enable) us.
In another sense, what "we" (part of that society -- an individual, a group, a government) can do is limited by what we can "afford" (pay). We cannot command the bricks and mortar and steel and cement and labor and architects to build houses and infrastructure without some form of compensation -- money for the architects and builders and cement/steel/mortar/brick makers and movers to exchange for food, drink, and shelter.
And in this grim budget situation, "we" (the government) are running out of ways to ask for productivity (goods and services for healthcare, education, welfare, defense) because we are out of ways to compensate the providers.
What can a government do then?
- force them to offer productivity without equal compensation (communism, colonialism, slavery, forced labor, cheap labor, unequal trade agreements, etc.)
- promise to repay them later (government bonds)
- give them something that they think is valuable but is less so and decreasingly so (money printing)
- encourage giving without compensation (charitable work and donation)
- repay them with compensation collected from those who benefited the most from the economic productivity growth (taxing)
I think the quote "We can afford what we can actually do" encourages the audience to think more about what we (as a society) can do and less about how we (the individual) are compensated.