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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: 1) by khallow on Monday October 15 2018, @11:49PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 15 2018, @11:49PM (#749294) Journal

    Hello modern Puritan. That is some seriously stupid shit which will actually lead us into modern slavery. There is no escaping automation.

    Why do you think there's a need to escape automation? Automation creates jobs too. I'll note that the developing world doesn't have a problem with automation. Maybe it's time to figure out what they're doing right?

    Inventing bullshit jobs will lead to societal unhappiness and a general dystopia predicated on forcing people to work miserable meaningless jobs. Such jobs already exist in relative abundance and it is a problem.

    Why would we want to employ people for bullshit jobs rather than useful jobs? There is this assumption about automation that hasn't proven out in the real world.

    UBI would 100% help those problems, and those subcultures you refer to are often symptoms of our societal problems with wealth disparity.

    I don't buy that some war on slacker subcultures will be anything other than a total cluster. But I can think of a really obvious reason why the subculture doesn't have wealth. Because, if any member were to get wealth, it'd be parceled out and spent by the rest of the culture.

    Someone who decides they don't like being useless would be able to go to school without working two shitty jobs, someone who wants to create their own business could at least start without worrying about starving, etc.

    They can already. It takes saving money, finding the cheap choices, and a bit of planning. I doubt UBI will make much difference to the sort of people who'd take such risks.