Denninger is a computer professional.
I worked on an electric IBM Executive that did kerning in the 70s. For instance, an “i” was 1 space while an “M” was 5.
The difference between these typewriters and a manual typewriter was the ribbon. The ribbons on the IBM Executive and the IBM Selectrics (which did not do kerning) was only used once. The impression made by each key was very dark black and consistent. The ribbons on the manuals were fabric ribbons and used until they became too faint.
That explains his economics posts.