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Universal Basic Income Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Scam

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

An Anonymous Coward writes:

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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:56AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15 2018, @09:56AM (#748931)

    The difference is your pets don't get to vote and their reproductive rights can be regulated/removed by you.

    If you live long enough, you realize that both of them are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things we call life - you can no longer do first and, for the second, it doesn't bring any change you think to be good.

    Isn't that backwards? You can no longer do the second (or never were able to) while the first is taken away from you.

  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday October 15 2018, @10:18AM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 15 2018, @10:18AM (#748939) Journal

    Isn't that backwards?

    I... can't remember, it may well be.See, the mind is the second thing to go (grin)

    Have you gotten off from my lawn yet? (large grin)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 15 2018, @01:47PM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 15 2018, @01:47PM (#749022) Journal

      See, the mind is the second thing to go

      First, they went for my reproductive organs and I was a bit upset over that.

      Then the dumb ones got removed from power and they went after my brain. Things worked out smoothly after that.