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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: 5, Insightful) by NotSanguine on Monday October 15 2018, @03:35PM
Not even a little bit. They are great examples. I used Musk and Bezos as examples for two reasons:
1. They are people pretty much everyone knows. If I'd said Barb Henderson or Zvi Liebmann, you'd have no idea who I was talking about;
2. They have no incentive to work *at all*, given that they have enough resources to support hundreds of people for centuries.
Even though they have the resources to buy new fully furnished houses, complete with cars, clothes, food and pretty much anything they might want, and then throw it all away, every week for the rest of their lives without doing a lick of work, they work hard, because they have dreams, aspirations and purpose that goes far beyond just eating money.
And most people are the same way (well except for the part about buying a new home every week and throwing it away). There are many, many amazingly talented and capable people out there who *could* be innovating, creating and making their communities more prosperous and productive. Instead *they* are caught in a trap. They don't have the means to pursue their dreams and goals, as they need to spend most of their waking hours working just to live paycheck to paycheck.
I pointed out that UBI isn't the only, and may well not be the best way to help the *majority* of working-age people out of their own money trap.
The vast majority who *are* working and, while they make ends meet, they often don't have much or any savings in case they have unexpected expenses like car problems, sick family members, etc. And if they lose their job, they are likely a month or so away from eviction. Sometimes, it doesn't even require you losing your job to be unable to cover the rent.
Have you ever tried to hold down a job when you didn't have any place to shower? I have. It's damn near impossible to be presentable on a regular basis when you're homeless.
As I said, we need to do *something* or this is gonna get real ugly. Then again, maybe that's what you'd like to see. If so, don't be disingenuous about it, have the courage of your convictions and just come right out and say you want to blow up our society.
You don't seem to have a clear understanding about what it's like to be in the vast majority of people in this country.
As to those on public assistance, that's become just a cruel joke on those (a tiny percentage of the population, BTW) who receive it.are *actively* discouraged from seeking work because their skill sets (Don't get me started on the incredible inequality in our school systems) will only allow them to get low paying jobs. Once they do that, they are smacked with a whole host of additional costs (commuting, child care, clothing, etc., etc., etc.) which eats away most (if not all or more) any additional cash flow than that which they get from public assistance.
What's more, as soon as they do this, they are immediately cut off. Gee, let's think about that. If I go out and get a job paying me, say, US$14,000/annum, less taxes. Yes, I am aware that they will get a refund at the end of the year, but that money is still deducted from the ~US$270.00 per week. Call it %20 (or more, if there are state/local income taxes) on weekly basis. Have you tried to feed, clothe and house a family on a couple hundred bucks a week? Don't forget, they now need to commute, which costs money. And any children who aren't in school need to have child care. The cost for day care is often more than they take home.
Even further, as soon as you take that job, you begin to lose various other benefits (this is dependent on where you are) like housing subsidies, food stamps, community outreach, and on and on and on.
tl;dr: You're talking out of your ass, and it smells that way too.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr