Those seem incompatible to me.
(UBI means Universal Basic Income, giving everyone a basic income, for free)
UBI is not a matter of “if”, it’s of “when”.
With automation and the fuckin AI, companies can do more and more with less and less people.
The concept of unemployement will be alien as well.
Eventually humans won’t be capable of performing any valuable economic activity, but in the past those who weren’t capable of performing valuable economic activity usually ended up as starving beggars rather than pampered pets… I think that a future of robots working for robots with humans struggling to survive on the periphery is not unlikely.
Maybe, but there’s also a good chance that the future doesn’t compare to the past, and stuff will go well. We should definitely consider that option.
In trials, it has consistently boosted productivity. More people need it in order to be productive than the amount that choose to be less productive once they won’t die from not being productive.
Also in trials, it has not costed more than current social programs in those areas. Clearing redundancies and red tape accounted for enough cost cuts to make UBI overall cost a similar amount or less than what all the various programs with all their various overhead costed all added together.
Exactly, this whole discussion should not be about what people feel about it.
Trials have shown it works beneficially. Quite so. Nevermind the standard of living increase and getting people off the streets, those aren’t even included in that, it’s just about productivity that is boosted.
So yeah, whenever someone says they feel it’d be negative, we tried it already, facts disagree with your feelings.
Now we only have to elect decision makers that make policy on facts and not feelings.
But what do we do about the lobbying majority that will overshadow our elected decision-makers?
The funniest thing is it’s the same basic argument as free market Vs planned economy. The individual knows better what they need right now. Why this doesn’t appeal more to the right than it does says a lot about a good chunk of right wing politics.
The current system is akin to a planned economy. You are told what you can spend the money on, and what you can’t. UBI lets the end recipient decide where it’s most useful. E.g. for one person, a car is a worthless expense, while better food makes a big difference. For another, they are ok living on cheaper food for a while, but a replacement car would let them bootstrap themselves upwards, economically.
People like the idea of “working hard” and “earning” something, because there’s “honor” in it or some shit. For whatever reason, the stereotype that the more money or wealth one has, the more hard-working they must be has been very prominent and alive for decades, if not centuries, often perpetuated by those who could benefit from UBI.
Maybe it’s just some coping mechanism for some people, maybe it’s just some capitalist propaganda, maybe it’s just some pride-driven nonsense people spew out to pat themselves on the back; maybe it’s a mix of everything. But it’s just about one’s ego.
