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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
(Score: 3, Informative) by Mykl on Monday October 15 2018, @06:40AM (8 children)
Except that it is actually being used successfully in other countries right now (northern Europe).
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 15 2018, @07:07AM (3 children)
[Citation needed].
No, seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Unixnut on Monday October 15 2018, @08:25AM (1 child)
The only Northern European country I know that attempted UBI was Finland, and that was a failure.
And even then, it wasn't "proper" UBI, which was supposed to go to everyone, but went just to the unemployed (making it basically just another form of low-income support/unemployment benefit, with a trendy name)
https://nordic.businessinsider.com/Finland-is-killing-its-world-famous-basic-income-experiment--/ [businessinsider.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 15 2018, @09:08AM
Pretty much what I recalled as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @10:02AM
Repeat it enough and it becomes true.
(Score: 2) by rleigh on Monday October 15 2018, @09:04AM (1 child)
I hope you aren't serious. Have you not seen the numbers of barely literate unemployables migrating for the benefits even in the absence of UBI, and the results of several decades of unfettered migration? It's an economic and demographic disaster, and it will only become worse with time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @11:08PM
The unemployable aren't unemployable, they work fields where they get insanely more money than they would in their home countries. These people would not be getting UBI without someone committing fraud which we would have investigators looking for. The correct answer is to actually police employers and crack down on employing / exploiting illegal immigrants for lower wages. They are the real problem that no one ever seems to care about and instead blame the symptoms.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by crafoo on Monday October 15 2018, @11:25AM (1 child)
I'm sorry, are you arguing that it isn't causing an uncontrolled migrant problem in Europe? Because it is. It's exactly the reason why a UBI _REQUIRES_ secure borders. A basic lifestyle in Europe or the USA is living like a king in most of the rest of the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @11:40AM
You simply don't see the opportunity for equality - UBI will be $1 a day and everyone will live in mud huts.