We work too hard to produce too much stuff, and we’re destroying the planet in the process. An interview with Gabriela Cabaña, a doctoral student at the London School of Economics.
Along with basic income, there’ll need to be basic volunteering, where everybody contributes a number of hours within their ability to their local community, otherwise (outside of sci-fi scenarios where machines of loving grace look after us) the system will collapse.
You’ll still work and still get the means to live, but the two won’t be linked as an exchange.
UBI means everybody gets a certain amount of money no questions asked. It does not mean wage work is illegal. In fact most actual plans presume a payment, which is just about enough to cover the basics. So if you want more, you have to work for it. The big advantages is that people are not forced into jobs they hate and it allows everybody to take more risks in terms of say art, starting new companies or working as an independent contractor.
One thing not talked about as a positive is the notion that some folks will sit on their ass and just drink/smoke and watch tv or such. This cracks me up as these folks do not improve the workforce when they are forced into it. My hope is that I could work without those whose prescence actually increases the amount of work needed and cause the results to be worse. Unfotunately many of those will still be “working” as they like nice things but hopefully it will at least lessen those situations.
Even without UBI there’s people who sit in their ass and drink/smoke/watch TV/etc. But without UBI they are more prone to resort to petty theft or other antisocial activities to support that habit. UBI pilot programs have demonstrably shown a decrease in crime, because it removes one of the incentives for it.
exactly. the main point is folks like that are not going to be a net positive if you put the screws to them. We win out if we let people follow what they want or are compensated enough to do what they are willing to do.
one of the big results out of the various UBI trials so far is that even with so-called “freeloaders”, overall productivity goes up – and we can see similar results in housing (providing housing for the unhoused saves money for the whole society) and health care (taking care of everyone costs less than gatekeeping whether you “qualify”)
Along with basic income, there’ll need to be basic volunteering, where everybody contributes a number of hours within their ability to their local community, otherwise (outside of sci-fi scenarios where machines of loving grace look after us) the system will collapse.
You’ll still work and still get the means to live, but the two won’t be linked as an exchange.
UBI means everybody gets a certain amount of money no questions asked. It does not mean wage work is illegal. In fact most actual plans presume a payment, which is just about enough to cover the basics. So if you want more, you have to work for it. The big advantages is that people are not forced into jobs they hate and it allows everybody to take more risks in terms of say art, starting new companies or working as an independent contractor.
One thing not talked about as a positive is the notion that some folks will sit on their ass and just drink/smoke and watch tv or such. This cracks me up as these folks do not improve the workforce when they are forced into it. My hope is that I could work without those whose prescence actually increases the amount of work needed and cause the results to be worse. Unfotunately many of those will still be “working” as they like nice things but hopefully it will at least lessen those situations.
Even without UBI there’s people who sit in their ass and drink/smoke/watch TV/etc. But without UBI they are more prone to resort to petty theft or other antisocial activities to support that habit. UBI pilot programs have demonstrably shown a decrease in crime, because it removes one of the incentives for it.
exactly. the main point is folks like that are not going to be a net positive if you put the screws to them. We win out if we let people follow what they want or are compensated enough to do what they are willing to do.
one of the big results out of the various UBI trials so far is that even with so-called “freeloaders”, overall productivity goes up – and we can see similar results in housing (providing housing for the unhoused saves money for the whole society) and health care (taking care of everyone costs less than gatekeeping whether you “qualify”)