It's time for a universal basic income.

[mettech]

"The politics of a guaranteed income get a lot easier when you acknowledge that the U.S. is no longer the land of opportunity"

 

"...With weak job growth, rising poverty, and the rich continuing to devour nearly all economic growth, it's an idea that is gaining more credence. Arguments for a universal basic income (UBI) — in which everyone without exception would receive an equal stipend — have flourished in policy-centric areas of the internet, including The Week. Advocates of UBI see it as a blunter, more effective means of reducing poverty and shrinking the inequality gap..."

 

"...However, there are other trends that may be interacting with and exacerbating this original sin. Automation and globalization had already largely hollowed out America's manufacturing employment base; most jobs created during this "recovery" have been in crappy low-wage work. And when one takes automation to its obvious logical end, it's hard not to conclude that robots will soon be putting just about everyone out of a job.

The reality of this situation is chewing at the roots of American politics. The fundamental bargain of American society is that for anyone willing to hustle, there is a decent job to be found, or one that will at least prevent abject destitution. It underpins our national mythos as the land of opportunity and self-reliance. It has always been less true than anyone wanted to admit, but for an increasingly large fraction of the population — start with the 16 percent of Americans who regularly don't have enough to eat — it's a sick joke.

Therefore, one can easily imagine the historical process described by Marx going in reverse. In today's labor market, where there are still twice as many job seekers as job openings, the constant conservative carping about the "dignity of work" sounds more jarring and vindictive by the day.

As someone with a nice, stimulating job, I agree that work can help people flourish. But in an economy that is flatly failing to produce enough jobs to satisfy the need, a universal basic income will start to seem more plausible — even necessary..."

 

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.

 

 

[goinbroke2]

Communism...it's here....

 

So, the basic premise is, that the government should provide jobs and if it can't, it should give those who aren't working enough to live on....where again does this money come from? Oh right, the government..but wait, where does the government get their money from? The answer of the uninformed is "well, the government makes the money to give to us". Those who work and pay taxes know it's the people who work in private corporation and company's that provide thetax money for the government to redistribute as it sees fit.

 

So back to the original point, the government is responsible to provide for the citizens of the country. (cough, cough, nanny state, cough) And what exactly is unemployment and welfare supposed to do? Are they not to provide for a person who loses a job or in the latter case, cannot work for whatever reason?

 

What possible reason should the government provide everything to a healthy person? Do we all forget how vast amounts of people came to North America "with a $1.00 in their pocket" as they say?

 

The first line "The politics of a guaranteed income get a lot easier when you acknowledge that the U.S. is no longer the land of opportunity" is called setting the stage for the debate in your own favour. It's the "playing field" that only can have one correct answer which favours the person setting it up. It's like asking what is the best car in the world, a Fusion or a Focus? It sets the field that no other make can be introduced and therefore the eventual answer HAS to be one of the two Fords.

 

Well, I call bullshit and say the US is still the land of opportunity. Even if there are so many more regulations and loopholes added to generate more revenue to support the ones who have no desire to make use of the opportunity afforded them. Bill Gates couldn't start the way he did in his garage due to increased regulations/rules etc, HOWEVER, don't confuse that with lack of opportunity. Now you have to adapt to the new regulations and increased taxation.

[xr7g428]

Everyday, at every level, they pass more rules and regulations that make it harder to do anything, and then wonder why no one is doing anything...

[FiredMotorCompany]

Communism...it's here....

 

So, the basic premise is, that the government should provide jobs and if it can't, it should give those who aren't working enough to live on....where again does this money come from? Oh right, the government..but wait, where does the government get their money from? The answer of the uninformed is "well, the government makes the money to give to us". Those who work and pay taxes know it's the people who work in private corporation and company's that provide thetax money for the government to redistribute as it sees fit.

 

So back to the original point, the government is responsible to provide for the citizens of the country. (cough, cough, nanny state, cough) And what exactly is unemployment and welfare supposed to do? Are they not to provide for a person who loses a job or in the latter case, cannot work for whatever reason?

 

What possible reason should the government provide everything to a healthy person? Do we all forget how vast amounts of people came to North America "with a $1.00 in their pocket" as they say?

 

The first line "The politics of a guaranteed income get a lot easier when you acknowledge that the U.S. is no longer the land of opportunity" is called setting the stage for the debate in your own favour. It's the "playing field" that only can have one correct answer which favours the person setting it up. It's like asking what is the best car in the world, a Fusion or a Focus? It sets the field that no other make can be introduced and therefore the eventual answer HAS to be one of the two Fords.

 

Well, I call bullshit and say the US is still the land of opportunity. Even if there are so many more regulations and loopholes added to generate more revenue to support the ones who have no desire to make use of the opportunity afforded them. Bill Gates couldn't start the way he did in his garage due to increased regulations/rules etc, HOWEVER, don't confuse that with lack of opportunity. Now you have to adapt to the new regulations and increased taxation.

You know that speaking truthful and logical statements will only get you ridicule and venomous responses.

[RangerM]

Everyday, at every level, they pass more rules and regulations that make it harder to do anything, and then wonder why no one is doing anything...

Further, if you're already "doing something" it solidifies your position as it makes it more difficult for others to enter into the market and compete with you.

 

People never seem to understand the more "rules and regulations" almost always make the richest/most successful even more so, while undermining the efforts of those not as well off.

[goinbroke2]

Further, if you're already "doing something" it solidifies your position as it makes it more difficult for others to enter into the market and compete with you.

 

People never seem to understand the more "rules and regulations" almost always make the richest/most successful even more so, while undermining the efforts of those not as well off.

Exactly, prime example;

The beer industry paid millions to block "micro breweries" from forming. They fought with lobbyists etc. They eventually lost but their main point was that they had a monopoly of a select few major breweries and didn't know what would happen if "anybody" got into the business. They(the lobbyists) got the government to add various "rules and regulations" which effectively made it impossible to start up a brewery unless the amount of output was so great it would take several million dollars just to get up and running. This was all squashed, the micro brewery industry took off and the rest is history as they say.

 

Currently, the spirit industry is in the same boat as the beer industry was. Here is the breakdown and how they do it.

Annual permit for brewing beer at a macro brewery $1000, Micro $500

Annual permit for brewing wine at a macro vineyard, $1000, micro $500

Annual permit for distilling at a macro distillery, $1000, micro $1000

So far the battle is to get "micro" recognised in the spirit world so the government will reduce the fee's.

 

So, what does this mean? Well, to pay this $1000 each year you will have to sell 48,000 bottles of whiskey.(36,000L for example) But to sell 48,000 bottles of whiskey you must brew and distill 4000 a month...which means 1000 per week...and since to distill 1000 bottles means 2-2500 bottles of wash (2000L) you must have fermenting tanks, etc quite beyond what would be considered "micro". So, without having a seperate price for macro and micro breweries, you effectively blocked any possibility of a micro starting up. And who would have lobbyists fighting against changing this? The big distilleries of course! More rules and regulation, less competition, the "big evil empires" go on. Ah...not quite, the rules are slowly being changed because the governments are recognising the revenue stream that is generated by a new industry. The rules are there which are effectively blocking new jobs/etc, but the opportunity is still there.

[Trimdingman]

The problem is that companies are leaving the country to escape onerous government regulation and taxation. You solve that by reducing regulations and taxes, not by increasing them. The government has reached the saturation point on taxation and even on borrowing from outside the country. Now they are just printing up counterfeit currency to create the illusion of a recovery, when in actuality, they are broke, and if you are accepting dollars in exchange for goods and services, it is like accepting IOUs from someone on welfare. Issuing phony paper has been going on for awhile. Why not just give everyone a million bucks and solve the problem? Oh... That is similar to what they are actually doing!

Edited September 14, 2014 by Trimdingman