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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: 4, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Monday October 15 2018, @03:02PM (1 child)
Let us be honest about work -- most of the work done by the vast majority of people merely provides income, not purpose. Flipping burgers, filing documents, raking leaves -- it's just some necessary maintenance but isn't going to provide people with a great sense of purpose like they'd get from sending a robot to an asteroid. Very few people have that kind of meaningful and interesting work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16 2018, @02:20AM
And yet, I've met people that took great satisfaction and purpose from taking care of old people, one of the low paying "menial" jobs that hasn't been mentioned here. Of course not everyone will be happy doing this job--as can be easily seen from talking to the workers at any senior residence or nursing home. But there is a core of these workers that really do care.