TBH this sounds like exactly the same thing it’s just you’ve put an economic lens on it. Has all the associated problems with bike shedding and ‘what does it mean’.
_I_ think you skimmed over the part where _I_ emphasized _I_. As in, this budget applies to me. Not anyone else. Not what does it. Not whether this nuance qualifies. Merely, can I do it for $N? I think what many people seem to do is taken a quite subjective statement such as _I_ made about an arbitrary budget and apply it universally to other people, and then try to argue the merit of meaning. Meanwhile, the creators are getting on creating. I do think manifesto of small games is good for one thing: it separates the makers from the bikeshedders.
Yet here you are bikeshedding and being grumpy. All the creative people I know are great at both being able to create and pontificate so I don’t think the dichotomy you propose is real.
There is no bike shedding. Personal attack. There is no dichotomy. Try again.