Dan - I'm with you - maybe I am confused, maybe not, but I was pretty doggone sure that if you turn on more amps than the circuit can safely handle, there is this gizmo called a circuit breaker that is there for that exact reason.
Seems to me to be the same deal as if I had one receptacle for a 20a circuit, and then the future homeowner plugged in a 30a device - the breaker will do its job. If he decides to replace the 20a breaker with a jillion amp breaker but not upgrade the wire, then how is that my concern? I am positive there is no deed restriction on my property that prohibits ownership by card-carrying morons.
Greg - I clearly am not getting your point, so I apologize - are you running 4ga wire with a 60a breaker in your den + living room for your 8-receptacle baseboard 110v circuit in case the next guy uses 8 power strips with 6 outlets each, and then plugs in 48 stereo amps @ 1000 watts each?
I have 10 ga wire with a 30a breaker running ONE 240v circuit to 4 machines: jointer, planer, TS, DC. I only run 2 at a time - except that one time I ran three.........except I didn't run 3, I ran zero. And - the jointer, TS, and planer all have mag switches, so when you reset the breaker, none of the "ouchy-call-911-you-are-ER-bound" tools fire back up.
When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.