In fact, calling it the Freedom Dividend gives me a chill in light of the fact that the names of bills presented to Congress are usually a complete contradiction what’s actually in the bill, ie., The Patriot Act which is Constitutionally illegal.
Very much so. I think its perceptive to use the precautionary principle especially when dealing with politics.
I’m not arguing against UBI in and of itself. What I’m saying is we won’t get the product we’re sold. It’s a bait and switch game, just like Obama Care. What I think we’ll end up with is basically those at poverty level will be pulled up to a better standard, the rest of us will be pulled down, and the well paying jobs will go to the children of the wealthy who can afford college.
And then the social polarization will be about how everyone got screwed by the poor who now have it so good while ignoring that UBI as it should have been got castrated instead. As usual, the powerful won’t be held accountable.
One of the biggest worry for me, is like you said, the wolves in sheep’s clothing will try to sell us a tasty-smelling pumpkin pie, while sneaking poison hemlock in it, as they so often do.
For instance selling the people a “universal” basic income that
retards, rather than
develops society and the economy. French (unelected) president Macron was recently proposing just such a plan. Thank God it was obvious enough that no-one drank the kool aid.
An example would be a conditional income (aka Welfare) where only certain people would have access to as you pointed out. Which defeats the whole purpose of UBI in the first place.
Another example would be lowering the UBI amount too low, that its not enough to make real changes ($500 vs $1,000 UBI.
Big difference.)
My biggest shift in thinking regarding UBI’s effectiveness is this: Mindset.
I don’t care how much you get, if your mindset is stuck to reductionism, materialist and competiton/survival-of-the-fittest perception, that money will do no good to you, nor the community, nor the environment.
I think the real game-changer is a shift in people’s perception of their place on this Planet.
What are we here for? Are we really distinct from Nature as we’ve been conditioned to think?
Or are we all playing a part in this cosmic play, where real added-value comes from synergy and working
with, rather than
against the people/environment.
And economically, that means shifting from linear “savage”-materialistic capitalism production models to regenerative holistic capitalism, one where free-market still exists but works within a synergistic framework of putting people and environment before profits, where co-operation instead of competition is the rule of the game, so that we can live off the interests of Nature’s bounty.
It seems cliché or maybe even impossible to achieve, but actually, more and more people are already involved in this new “underground” economy (the other thread on Blue Economy is a testament to this).
Once, and only once, we’ll have achieved this degree of shift in perception, where people would find motivation to collaborate, then I believe we can propose a UBI-like framework to kickstart the creativity process, not as an end, but as a “bridge” to get from
here to
there.
That’s my two-cents and reflection on UBI. I used to be gung-ho about it, thinking the changes in perception will follow upon implementation. I was wrong.
Having said that, my views on the logistics and feasibility remain unchanged. That’s probably the least of the concerns for this program. I get my tax returns every year by direct deposit on my bank, I don’t see why a similar automated system cant be implemented.
As for the greenbacks, I like Yang’s idea of using savings made from cutting welfare bureaucracy costs, as well as imposing a value-added tax on GAFAs (Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazons) that not only routinely evade paying local taxes, but also are the ones profiting the most from automation and AI.
I would suggest further, by taxing weapons manufacturers, and energy sector that’s crippling Earth ecology, to would be funnelled towards a UBI. If you really wanna be bold, fund the UBI with non-fiat, government issued greenbacks and saying no to Federal Reserve private debt money.
Where there is will, there is a way.
