Jim Delaney warns that Hope-Based Budgeting creates an operational crisis where leaders fund AI on optimism rather than P&L evidence. Deploying Ephemeral AI without a shared architecture forces human operators to pay a steep Supervision Tax on automated workslop. To pull revenue engines above the Intelligence Poverty Line, Traction AI champions building hard infrastructure measured by margin expansion, churn deflection, and revenue velocity. CEOs must stop funding a feeling and measure the asset.