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posted by martyb on Monday October 15 2018, @05:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the perpetual-motion dept.

Think of it: The government prints more money or perhaps — god forbid — it taxes some corporate profits, then it showers the cash down on the people so they can continue to spend. As a result, more and more capital accumulates at the top. And with that capital comes more power to dictate the terms governing human existence.

UBI really just turns us from stakeholders or even citizens to mere consumers.

Meanwhile, UBI also obviates the need for people to consider true alternatives to living lives as passive consumers. Solutions like platform cooperatives, alternative currencies, favor banks, or employee-owned businesses, which actually threaten the status quo under which extractive monopolies have thrived, will seem unnecessary. Why bother signing up for the revolution if our bellies are full? Or just full enough?

Under the guise of compassion, UBI really just turns us from stakeholders or even citizens to mere consumers. Once the ability to create or exchange value is stripped from us, all we can do with every consumptive act is deliver more power to people who can finally, without any exaggeration, be called our corporate overlords.

No, income is nothing but a booby prize. If we're going to get a handout, we should demand not an allowance but assets. That's right: an ownership stake.

https://medium.com/s/powertrip/universal-basic-income-is-silicon-valleys-latest-scam-fd3e130b69a0


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday October 15 2018, @06:23AM (23 children)

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday October 15 2018, @06:23AM (#748854) Journal

    The following sentence is telling:

    Why bother signing up for the revolution if our bellies are full?

    So the author doesn't want the well-being of people. He wants them to be very much non-well, to make them revolt.

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Monday October 15 2018, @07:43AM (4 children)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Monday October 15 2018, @07:43AM (#748875)

    The thing is, it's already the case: most people, even at the bottom rung of society, dream of a revolution but will never actually do it, because the state provides just enough handouts to make them think again. That's what social security is for: it's not meant to help the poor, it's meant to prevent the poor from turning truly violent out of desperation.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:38AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:38AM (#748922)

      It is an interesting way to look at it. One problem is that USA doesn't have the level of poverty that is seen in many third world countries. Really, if you are qualifying for food stamps you are better off than millions of people already. The other problem is that poorer people don't revolt, they scamper here and there looking for something to eat - whatever they can - and they don't have time to think about the 'system' and 'society'. Some of them may even kill you if it meant they got to sleep on a couch with beer.

      This is a basic flaw in socialism actually which Winston Smith makes in 1984. Poor people never revolt.

      Revolutions, and discontent itself, is a function of inequality. This is why Saudi Arabia wasn't revolting before they found oil, and aren't revolting after they found oil.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:56AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:56AM (#748930)

        This is why Saudi Arabia wasn't revolting before they found oil, and aren't revolting after they found oil.

        Everything about Saudi Arabia is pretty revolting tbh.

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Monday October 15 2018, @02:34PM

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Monday October 15 2018, @02:34PM (#749053) Journal

      Riot Index [ssrn.com]

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Monday October 15 2018, @02:47PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Monday October 15 2018, @02:47PM (#749065) Journal

      Gore Vidal has a good quote on this topic with regard to FDR, something along the lines of: "people complained FDR was a traitor to his class -- he saved their ass."

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E76ArLbSABA [youtube.com]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @08:04AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @08:04AM (#748882)
    The author is a revolting person.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by darkfeline on Monday October 15 2018, @08:43AM (16 children)

    by darkfeline (1030) on Monday October 15 2018, @08:43AM (#748896) Homepage

    That made me think, would it be better if the masses were living a comfortable, complacent life, or if they were miserable and thus overthrew the ruling class?

    History has shown that overthrowing the ruling class doesn't create utopia, just a period of instability that gets filled with a new ruling class, at the expense of many involved.

    So should the masses have a comfortable life, or be given a microscopic chance at letting their children become the new ruling class, and otherwise suffering greatly through social instability?

    --
    Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:47AM (14 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:47AM (#748928)

      What else do people want other than comfortable life?

      • (Score: 1) by r_a_trip on Monday October 15 2018, @11:21AM (6 children)

        by r_a_trip (5276) on Monday October 15 2018, @11:21AM (#748961)

        What else do people want other than comfortable life?

        Be top dog.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 15 2018, @01:41PM (4 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 15 2018, @01:41PM (#749017) Journal

          "I ain't comfortable enough if I can't make your life miserable" or "I ain't rich enough if you aren't deep into poverty", which of the two you reckon?

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @02:21PM (3 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @02:21PM (#749043)

            Psychologists have shown these to be the most destructive traits to the self. Philosophers and religions generally look down on these.

            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 15 2018, @02:35PM (2 children)

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 15 2018, @02:35PM (#749054) Journal

              Yeah, "top dog" wannabes unfortunately exist in non-neglijible amounts.

              --
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @04:55PM (1 child)

                by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @04:55PM (#749128)

                May that is why societies that shunned these things fared better.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16 2018, @02:56PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16 2018, @02:56PM (#749547)

                  Hence the fall of the harem.

                  I'll explain. In the past, there were a plethora of harems. The rich would thus have many wives, and the poor would have none. Perhaps from an evolutionary perspective this was "good" if you assume that the rich are "more fit", but that is immaterial to this discussion. The problem is the hoards of unwed poor men. These men would also like to have wives/sex. Eventually, there will be a group of them that kills a harem-have to take his riches and/or harem. This churn is bad for society because it means that the poor are plotting killings (instead of working) and the rich are planning defenses (instead of working) and thus less valuable work gets done.

                  In contrast, a monogamous society doesn't deplete the supply of women, and thus most men have a chance at marriage. These men are then kept busy working to support their families, and this work benefits society. Likewise the rich have fewer rabbles to contend with and can focus more of their efforts at extracting more labor from the labor force rather than keeping the labor force suppressed. As dismal as it sounds, it is still win-win. Much less death, much more progress.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @02:16PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @02:16PM (#749039)

          Be top dog.

          That's an impossible goal.
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damocles [wikipedia.org]

          Stoicism was a much better philosophy which allowed the west to flourish

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by rleigh on Monday October 15 2018, @12:55PM (6 children)

        by rleigh (4887) on Monday October 15 2018, @12:55PM (#748994) Homepage

        Many things. Agency. Purpose. Pride and a sense of place and belonging in society at large. Friendship. A future for you and your family. Comfort isn't the be all and end all of life; once you've got a bare minimum of needs met, like a roof over your head, other factors are more important.

        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @01:37PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @01:37PM (#749014)

          Maslov's pyramid says that food and shelter, and safety are more important, though.

          • (Score: 2) by rleigh on Monday October 15 2018, @02:46PM

            by rleigh (4887) on Monday October 15 2018, @02:46PM (#749064) Homepage

            That would all be part of the "bare minimum of needs" I mentioned above.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @03:21PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @03:21PM (#749087)
            *Maslow
        • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday October 15 2018, @06:14PM

          by DeathMonkey (1380) on Monday October 15 2018, @06:14PM (#749164) Journal

          Agency, purpose, pride, friends, family: lucky for us all of those are free!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @08:15PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @08:15PM (#749208)

          Those are things that no amount of government can give.

          • (Score: 2) by rleigh on Monday October 15 2018, @08:41PM

            by rleigh (4887) on Monday October 15 2018, @08:41PM (#749213) Homepage

            They can take them away however, and IMO UBI would have the potential to do so.

    • (Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday October 16 2018, @04:53AM

      by dry (223) on Tuesday October 16 2018, @04:53AM (#749405) Journal

      While overthrowing the ruling class seldom if ever works out for the better, the threat can motivate the ruling class to not be so harsh in their rule. In the west, the threat of a socialist revolution led to improved living conditions for the average person in the early 20th century.