Another idea of monetary control of your life....imagine what one could do with having this kind of control over the economy...the hand that gives it to you is the same hand that can take it away from you.....
And that no man might buy or sell,
save he that had the mark,
or the name of the beast,
or the number of his name.
Revelation 13:17
"It’s the latest big idea among tech elites, as those in Silicon Valley struggle to cope with growing public unease over the effects digital technologies have had on jobs and income inequality. Dressed up
as “universal basic income,” the idea is to give everyone—in some versions, every adult—a fixed sum every month. It’s not a lot of money, but—so the argument goes—it would help people survive as jobs are increasingly lost to robots, software, and automation.
"If, in fact, the economy does not create enough new jobs, new policies must be put in place to ensure that people can survive in a world without enough work. Without policies that can reconcile the new economic reality with the population’s needs, countries could be at risk of civil unrest and increases in poverty and inequality. One proposal to avoid these calamities and simultaneously help the disadvantaged is called Universal Basic Income (UBI).
As work becomes scarce, Universal Basic Income could provide unconditional income to everyone in the respective nation regardless of employment status or other income. Universal Basic Income is one of the forerunning ideas to fight poverty as well as a host of other issues, especially because it has generated appeal across the political spectrum. By guaranteeing everyone an income, those suffering from structural unemployment and poverty can alleviate their own pressures and fend for themselves.
One criticism of UBI is that in practice UBI is expensive. Paying everyone a fixed amount would cause tax rates to soar in order to balance the books. On the other hand, as the economy continues to increase productivity and scarcity across the board decreases, perhaps in the future UBI will not be as large of a cost for
governments to impose.
Another problem with UBI is that developing nations right now would have no chance of implementing a system ....Funds are scarce, governments corrupt and developing nations may also lack the infrastructure to properly disperse the funds evenly if they had them. UBI’s biggest fault is that it may be less feasible in the short run, but the long run picture is less discouraging.
Is Universal Basic Income inevitable? Maybe. The United States currently has 79 means-tested programs for those in need. This system is highly inefficient and bureaucratic in comparison to how UBI could be operated – simply and elegantly. Universal Basic Income can address poverty by freeing those people from lacking enough income for basic survival necessities. The impact of structural unemployment due to the possibility of a net loss of jobs could also be mitigated by UBI. Thomas Paine supported some of the fundamental ideas behind UBI, and Representative Paul Ryan has been in support of stream-lining the complicated United States welfare state. Support for UBI has potential to grow across the political spectrum and this also increases UBI’s likelihood of being “inevitable”.
BorgenMagazine
If there are no jobs, it would at least give people something else to do, suggests the New York Times’s Farhad Manjoo: “We’d all be free to become artists, scholars, and entrepreneurs or otherwise engage our passions.”
....in recent times, the basic income has regained popularity among some policy makers. This week, it was reported that Ontario is considering a pilot project to begin next year. And there are calls for the U.K. to follow suit.
But among many tech elites and their boosters, the idea of a basic income seems to have morphed from an antipoverty strategy into a radical new way of seeing work and leisure. In this view, the economy is becoming increasingly dominated by machines and software. That leaves many without jobs and, notably, society with no need for their labor. So why not simply pay these people for sitting around? Somehow, in the thinking of many in Silicon Valley, this has become a good thing."
MIT TechnologyReview
"If, in fact, the economy does not create enough new jobs, new policies must be put in place to ensure that people can survive in a world without enough work. Without policies that can reconcile the new economic reality with the population’s needs, countries could be at risk of civil unrest and increases in poverty and inequality. One proposal to avoid these calamities and simultaneously help the disadvantaged is called Universal Basic Income (UBI).
As work becomes scarce, Universal Basic Income could provide unconditional income to everyone in the respective nation regardless of employment status or other income. Universal Basic Income is one of the forerunning ideas to fight poverty as well as a host of other issues, especially because it has generated appeal across the political spectrum. By guaranteeing everyone an income, those suffering from structural unemployment and poverty can alleviate their own pressures and fend for themselves.
One criticism of UBI is that in practice UBI is expensive. Paying everyone a fixed amount would cause tax rates to soar in order to balance the books. On the other hand, as the economy continues to increase productivity and scarcity across the board decreases, perhaps in the future UBI will not be as large of a cost for
Another problem with UBI is that developing nations right now would have no chance of implementing a system ....Funds are scarce, governments corrupt and developing nations may also lack the infrastructure to properly disperse the funds evenly if they had them. UBI’s biggest fault is that it may be less feasible in the short run, but the long run picture is less discouraging.
Is Universal Basic Income inevitable? Maybe. The United States currently has 79 means-tested programs for those in need. This system is highly inefficient and bureaucratic in comparison to how UBI could be operated – simply and elegantly. Universal Basic Income can address poverty by freeing those people from lacking enough income for basic survival necessities. The impact of structural unemployment due to the possibility of a net loss of jobs could also be mitigated by UBI. Thomas Paine supported some of the fundamental ideas behind UBI, and Representative Paul Ryan has been in support of stream-lining the complicated United States welfare state. Support for UBI has potential to grow across the political spectrum and this also increases UBI’s likelihood of being “inevitable”.
BorgenMagazine