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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: 2) by sjames on Monday October 15 2018, @03:45PM (2 children)
That is exactly why UBI is necessary. Consider how many people are utterly dependent on their employer and are in a dead end job. They're too busy working for their employer to do anything else.
With UBI, they become LESS dependent on their employer and more able to find some way to advance. They gain the ability to try independent contracting without the downside of starving or becoming homeless between contracts. They can survive on UBI while they get a small business up to speed. And unlike the current programs they don't have to go through a regular ritual of kissing a petty bureaucrat's ass and proving that they are neither advancing or having any fun in order to continue surviving.
Sounds like a big win.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 16 2018, @02:23AM (1 child)
> Sounds like a big win.
Think of all the social workers in the welfare system (many with degrees or advanced degrees)--UBI puts them right out of a job!
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday October 17 2018, @06:15PM
Lack of UBI is not the only reason for social services. My daughter has a job analyzing peoples' needs when they leave hospital so that the right special facilities can be provided them.