Your thoughts on "universal basic income" for Americans?

[FreeGhostSpectator 318]

Now I am not advocating communism as obviously this system is clearly flawed, but the fact that 1% of Americans own 40% of all wealth in the US (according to a Harvard study) is despicable in my mind. There are many barriers to entry for young entrepreneurs impeding their financial independence. Also, autonomous robots are replacing humans in many labor sectors and future trends show that over 70% of all jobs today will be replaced by automation. My issue is thinking about how the wealthy view this scenario and how they will deal with it.

[FreeGhostSpectator 318]

Aside from the fact that this statement is irrelevant to the topic, I think hookers being illegal is a deliberate situation in which men can be more easily controlled. Prosecute men for their inherent urges for financial gain  = win for the state.

[IGMOW (I Go My Own Way)Participant 2572]

Milton Freedman proposed a negative income tax as a way to offset not having enough money:

The thing is that the middle class and those who aren’t poor, think there are the character defects with the poor so they have to be babysat to make sure they aren’t lazy.

I would add here, that what you see above is found with the Earned Income Tax Credit, meaning working poor get additional money from the government to make up shortcomings in what they earn.

"I am my own thang. Any questions?" - Davis S Pumpkins.

[Helen be DamnedParticipant 480]

Even so a “universal basic income” is not the answer. Communism is never the answer, because it is a conceptual utopia, and that has the dual meaning of the great place and the place that can never be. It does no good to strive for something like this because it is fruit of the poisonous tree. The correct question is “How can we make things better” not “How do we ensure the rich aren’t rich.” Poor people will always exist because by default natural selection will keep the people who won’t or can’t succeed from doing so, and it makes no sense to reward that behavior. Is it sad that there are poor, hungry people? Yes. Should we do something about it? Of course. This is not the way to do it, and we will be adding another nail in our coffin if we do.

"You can keep your soul, I don't want a cell-mate." - Them Crooked Vultures

[BDParticipant 1146]

FreeGhost wrote:

the fact that 1% of Americans own 40% of all wealth in the US (according to a Harvard study) is despicable in my mind. There are many barriers to entry for young entrepreneurs impeding their financial independence. Also, autonomous robots are replacing humans in many labor sectors and future trends show that over 70% of all jobs today will be replaced by automation. My issue is thinking about how the wealthy view this scenario and how they will deal with it.

This would only be a band-aid solution. The system needs a complete re-design. An economy that relies on infinite growth on a planet with finite resources is scientifically destined for failure. I don’t know the solution.

The Venus Project suggests a solution, I’m not saying that I agree or disagree, but it is better than anything I could suggest, we will never see it in our lifetime though. This video starts out slow but then hammers you with some cold hard facts.

Because in order to be able to think, you have to risk being offensive.

[MyselfParticipant 353]

Lots of people are lazy, and that is a good thing.  Why?  Because if you work hard you can get ahead of them.

FreeGhost wrote:

There are many barriers to entry for young entrepreneurs impeding their financial independence.

There are barriers, true – but the SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs figure out a way to overcome them.

[FreeGhostSpectator 318]

I also believe capitalism also creates a bottom down effect in which poverty and financial inequality is inevitable. Think about how items are produced today, they are produced for “planned obsolescence” AKA break in a relatively short period after you buy it so you must buy more. Light bulbs can last forever (in terms of human lifelines) yet they are designed to break in a short time frame for profit. Peter Joseph’s “Venus Project” seems like a decent solution, yet I do not trust human nature when it comes to control. I am unsure of a political/economic system that can create justice. Maybe one does not exist.

[IGMOW (I Go My Own Way)Participant 2572]

The problem I see with the Venus Project is that it has the problems, as I understand it, that are the same with planned economies:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacque_Fresco#The_Venus_Project_and_later_career

Human beings are just too unpredictable to be able to end up forecasting properly.

Here is one take on this debate:

"I am my own thang. Any questions?" - Davis S Pumpkins.

[FreeGhostSpectator 318]

Barriers to entry are becoming more prominent and costly unfortunately stifling potential for the less affluent.

[UptownjesusParticipant 95]

You’re here to go your way, not mine. But I do have a take on this, and you should definitely take it or leave it depending on your own values.

The idea of expanding welfare and raising the minimum wage serves two basic purposes:

a. Small businesses will be unable to compete with large corporations once they’re required to double whatever they have budgeted for labor. Thus, the soulless ‘Wal*Mart’ type corporations will successfully have established a full monopoly via the dissolution of any potential local competition.

And b. Many white collar workers who (will most likely have squandered the bulk of their youth attempting to establish a specialized skill in order to escape the despair of menial jobs) will become resentful of the pimply faced fry cook f~~~tards who’ve suddenly acquired a competitive salary after a lifetime of bong rips and hot pockets, and their desire to advance will dissipate. Some of them might even quit their crappy office jobs in order to dawn paper hats themselves. (At least now they can escape occasionally to drown out the monotony of the work with some whip its in the walk-in fridge.)

The “Powers that be” will now have officially accomplished what it is that they’ve always wanted. An unarguably apathetic public that could give a f~~~ less about their own ability, because “what difference does it make?”, zero competition, and a truly impenetrable income gap that allows them to literally make ALL of the decisions that affect the condition of the national economy. F~~~ income equality. Let the rich guys have their riches, and let me have my pathetic dreams. We’ll all be dead soon anyways. A man is happiest when he has goals.

#pancaketittyshaming

[ShinyParticipant 2307]

Call me an old lefty, but my understanding is that when something like a universal income has been trialed on a small scale (in towns in the US and Europe) it’s been surprisingly successful. To paraphrase Chomsky, no one is going to write a manifesto for the best economy – we have to try stuff and see what works.

[WolfParticipant 890]

Legalize hookers.  That will fix much.

Already done in Canada.

[FreeGhostSpectator 318]

This does not excuse the fact that wealth is not inherited and that 1% of Americans own 40% of all wealth in this country. The top 20% of Americans own more wealth than the bottom 80% combined, how is this fair? Free market capitalism seems to lead to lobbyists and unequal wealth distribution, in which power in given to the minute percentage of the population. JFYI I think communism is probably a worse system than “free market” capitalism.

[UptownjesusParticipant 95]

Shiny wrote:

Call me an old lefty, but my understanding is that when something like a universal income has been trialed on a small scale (in towns in the US and Europe) it’s been surprisingly successful. To paraphrase Chomsky, no one is going to write a manifesto for the best economy – we have to try stuff and see what works.

“Old lefty” is what I call the hand I use to grab my dick when I’m horny. It’d be weird if I started calling you that, too.

#pancaketittyshaming

[Puffin StuffParticipant 24979]

I say milk the system for all you can get then go your own way. Let the empowered social justice warriors that make up over 60% of the college population pay for our free rides.

There is no honor in working yourself to death. Let the girls do it.

Thanks Feminism.

#icethemout; Remember Thomas Ball. He died for your children.

[MyselfParticipant 353]

FreeGhost wrote:

Barriers to entry are becoming more prominent and costly unfortunately stifling potential for the less affluent.

I’d like to know what you mean.  If you are an entrepreneur and have solid ideas and the skills to execute your plans, you can find an investor to make your affluence irrelevant.

I’m a huge fan of the “self made man”.

 

 

[FreeGhostSpectator 318]

Here’s the thing guys, many of the jobs of the posters/readers of this question will have their jobs outsourced by autonomous robots. What will you do then? I render you all obsolete.

[UptownjesusParticipant 95]

FreeGhost wrote:

Here’s the thing guys, many of the jobs of the posters/readers of this question will have their jobs outsourced by autonomous robots. What will you do then? I render you all obsolete.

Learn how to build robots and get the f~~~ out of the local Wal*Mart.

(BTW, when you do, do us all a favor and push for the development of the theoretical “sex bot” you’ve been working on.)

This be the case, I’ll gladly accept your proposal for universal mediocrity.

#pancaketittyshaming

[Anonymous 42]

“universal basic income” free money? for not working? Who’s paying the bill? We’ll all be children again? Who’s the daddy? Ahhhhh, I see, big daddy government gets much bigger, spread thinner, weakens the dollar, then we’ll all be poor, including the rich!

Sounds like feminist brand equality to me, we all s~~~ the bed together, then roll in each other’s s~~~! NO THANKS, I DON’T FEEL LIKE LAYING DOWN!  EVER!

I’ll KEEP WALKING>>>>>>>>>>>>>MGTOW

[UptownjesusParticipant 95]

– There’s no technological advancement that can’t benefit from the advantage of having an open source platform. Firefox. Android. VLC. The list goes on forever. Human ingenuity will never be rendered obsolete. It’s what we do, man. And that means ALL humans.

*provided they have a dick as history has shown.

#pancaketittyshaming

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