Hello Friends
One of the themes I’ve explored in my writing recently is the concept of Universal Basic Income. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, UBI would replace welfare and provide all citizens a basic level of subsistence.
Estimates for this amount are wide, but let’s hypothetically say the level is set at £20k or $25k. You would then have the option whether to work (perhaps part-time), or spend your expanded free-time doing artistic pursuits, learning, volunteering - or whatever the hell you want.
Now you know WHAT UBI is, let’s discuss WHY it might be needed.
The main reason is MACHINIZATION - the gradual replacement of human jobs, by AI. This is no longer a concept, but is happening RIGHT NOW. Unless you’ve lived under the ocean for the past few years, you will have seen many debates about recent advancements of AI.
You probably know about the Hollywood writers’ strike. Here in the UK, the transport union strikes rumble on with no sign of ending, and this is no longer about pay but promises over job security.
The technology for driverless trains and busses is ALREADY HERE. It is GOING to happen. It’s no longer if but when. This is happening in many sectors, the same way machines replaced people in factories not so long ago.
But AI will generate jobs, too, right? Yes, new jobs are created every day managing AI. But it’s impossible to replace all those jobs destroyed. The perfect example is the supermarket checkout. You used to have say TEN checkout workers, right? Now you have one or two workers managing TEN automated checkouts. Those other eight jobs are NOT COMING BACK!
Once enough of us cannot feed our families, society will reach a tipping point. Mass social unrest will eventually break out, and the potential for SYSTEMIC CHANGE rears its ugly (in the eyes of the elite) head. Let’s call that Option 1.
Option 2. Well, if the elite don’t like option 1, you ain’t gonna like 2. This is where the elite wipe out the vast majority of the global population. Pfft, how they gonna do that? you might cry. It’s easier than you think. The accidental release of a virus is a real possiblity and has occured many times. This time, it would be no accident. The elite would have the vaccine for a deadly, modified virus. The survivors will easily be enslaved by the ruling class. Eliminating 80%+ of the population also solves global warming in one foul swoop. Doube win!
Now why would they kill us? They need our money, right? Wrong. At this stage, they already HAVE all our money. We’ve no more to give. It’s happening RIGHT NOW. Are you not poorer than you were three years ago? That’s inflation, right? No, inflation is a symptom, not a cause. During covidtimes and since, we’ve seen the biggest mass transfer of wealth in HUMAN HISTORY. There is no cost of living crisis, only a cost of GREED crisis.
Option 3 is Universal Basic Income. The global elite has all the money, and they DON’T want to kill us all off (YET), and they don’t fancy dealing with the wildcard of mass unrest, so they decide to give us some money BACK. It’s not even a NEW IDEA! In fact, there are ongoing experiments happening including one in the UK. Here’s some further reading about UBI.
The analogy I always use is this. Let’s say you and I are sitting at the poker table with Bob. We’ve won all Bob’s chips, and Bob says he’s gonna call it a night. But we like Bob, and we don’t want to stop yet, so we give Bob some of his chips again. Soon, his stack is depleted again, so we give Bob MORE chips to play with, around and around until one of us decides enough is enough.
So who PAYS for UBI? UBI is essentially paid for by higher taxes on corporations such as Amazon, Tesco, Walmart etc etc etc. You know, the guys who TOOK all our money, the guys who MASSIVELY BENEFITED from Covid, and the guys who have COLLUDED over pricing ever since (supermarkets have previous history of this), cornered markets, eliminated the competition and even SPENT OUR MONEY ON SPACE ROCKETS!
What about GROWTH? The economy needs GROWTH, dammit! Unless you’re an utter moron, you’ll have realized that the planet Earth CANNOT sustain exponential growth of ANYTHING, let alone the economy. A system of UBI would see the economy enter a period of cyclical calm, no longer reliant on the constant production of goods we don’t need. We’d get the chance to work on improving OURSELVES rather than in a job we hate. We could work part-time and spend the spare 20 hours with our families. Or we could do voluntary work to help make society better. Or even write novels!
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
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Just found this and was interested to see you are in the UK. In Australia UBI is a non-starter simply because both major parties are well into the pockets of the people who would have to be taxed to give everyone a living wage, something we already deny the unemployed. Also, our pollies are career opportunists who have never had a proper job so they would have no idea what a living wage is any more than their advisers. We are not quite as badly off as the UK, but we still suffer from the Trump effect: he who shouts loudest wins, and that will decide our up coming election. Unless Canada and New Zealand suddenly take up the idea, I can't see either the UK or Australia thinking UBI is a good idea, until the right wing ollies all lose their investments and need to work.