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Why Facebook should pay us a basic income
CNBC ^ | 09 August 2017 | John Thornhill

Posted on 08/12/2017 8:48:05 AM PDT by Lorianne

Like other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Mr. Zuckerberg believes that thousands of jobs are going to be swept away by new technologies, such as driverless cars. In such a world, he says, we need to invent a new social contract. Basic income could be part of the answer. Some argue that Alaska is a special case as it has just distributed the fruits of an oil bonanza. But it may be possible to find other sources of revenue to fund similar schemes elsewhere. Some have suggested a land value tax. Others have argued for a financial transactions tax.

But there is one other potential source of revenue that Mr. Zuckerberg knows all about: data. If, as the saying goes, data are the new oil then we may have found a 21st-century revenue stream. Data could do for the world what oil has done for Alaska.

Mr. Zuckerberg's concern for the marginalised in society is commendable, as is his commitment to building strong communities. Unlike most of the rest of us, he has the personal influence to help tackle the problems of our age. He runs one of the world's most valuable companies and has a ready-made digital pulpit from which he can make his case to Facebook's 2 billion global users.

He should now live up to his rhetoric and launch a Facebook Permanent Fund to cover a broader universal basic income experiment. He should encourage other data businesses, such as Google, to contribute too.

The most valuable asset that Facebook possesses is the data that its users, often unwittingly, hand over for free before they are in effect sold to advertisers. It seems only fair that Facebook makes a bigger social contribution for profiting from this massively valuable, collectively generated resource.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: communists; zuckerberg
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1 posted on 08/12/2017 8:48:05 AM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne

Facebook has sold the INFO of everyone who ever used it. The kid owner basically used every trick in the book to replace Equifax plus other insurance underwriting sources.


2 posted on 08/12/2017 8:53:07 AM PDT by Lumper20
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To: Lorianne

I have a message for Mr. Zuckerberg, which should be delivered in front of his home:

“Mr. Zuckerberg, if you seek seek ‘a basic income’ for the people of the world, if you seek open borders! Mr. Zuckerberg, open your checkbook! Mr. Zuckerberg, tear down this wall!”

Thanks of course to President Reagan for the inspiration.


3 posted on 08/12/2017 8:56:29 AM PDT by henkster (Ask your favorite liberal to take the "Snowflake Challenge.")
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To: Lorianne

Don’t we already have a basic income, considering we have Section 8 housing, EBT benefits, SNAP/Food stamp benefits, etc.

Or are we supposed to pay people over and above these benefits the poorest of us already get???


4 posted on 08/12/2017 8:57:00 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: Lorianne
That is what they do under communist. Only problem the level income is zero. So like Korea, rice twice a day. China not much better.
5 posted on 08/12/2017 8:57:05 AM PDT by Logical me
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To: Lorianne

I am not convinced that robots are going to take over all the jobs or create a massive number of unemployed.

It will be slower deployment than most of the hot dogs in Silicon Valley claim. A lot slower.

A tour through a car manufacturing plant will give you an idea what the future looks like. Quite a few people involved even at this late date.


6 posted on 08/12/2017 8:59:56 AM PDT by buffaloguy
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To: Lorianne

No UBI!!!!!!

Like the movie, “Obsolete”...no way, no how. Just ditch FB.


7 posted on 08/12/2017 9:01:36 AM PDT by CincyRichieRich (We must never shut up. Covfefe: A great dish served piping hot!)
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To: Lorianne
So..... jumping ahead to the forest, not the trees here.....

Facebook has used slave labor. Taking valuable effort for free from millions. And then they profit from it. Zuckerberg is a slave owner. Zuckerberg has profited more off the American (nay, world's) people than the Clintons!!

We demand reparations!

8 posted on 08/12/2017 9:01:50 AM PDT by Yaelle (We have a Crisis of Information in this country. Our enemies hold the megaphone.)
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To: Lorianne

I don’t know what Facebook intends to do with the info it has on me, but anyone who buys it is wasting their money when it comes to me.


9 posted on 08/12/2017 9:07:11 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Progressives spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

>>Don’t we already have a basic income, considering we have Section 8 housing, EBT benefits, SNAP/Food stamp benefits, etc.

“We” don’t get that stuff. The Globlists want UBI to be able to justify paying workers less. Basically, UBI comes down to:

1) Corporation pays worker $10/hr
2) Corporation lobbies for UBI to pay everyone $4/hr
3) Corporation says, “we pay for UBI so we’ll lower your pay to $6/hr and you lose nothing.”
4) Corporation lobbies for the sacrifice to be spread around more. Government responds with tax breaks for corporation and citizens now pay $2/hr out of their $6/hr to cover UBI. Now corporation pays $0.50/hr to UBI.
5) Workers get told to tighten belts.

Don’t believe it? Look at the history of social security, 401k, and pensions. Look at the intentions of ObamaCare and what the leaders of major MNCs said about it.


10 posted on 08/12/2017 9:09:52 AM PDT by Bryanw92 (If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs, if we had some eggs.)
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To: CincyRichieRich

Oh, IDK, I might make an exception here.

IMO taking money from me in taxes and redistributing it to other people is extortion and theft. But the left (and the UniParty) likes this, because it serves their purposes. They think that theft is just dandy when it’s theft that was voted on. So, consider this: How about we vote a very special tax on FB (and Google and any other companies who engage in invasion of privacy ) and redistribute that? I see no reason why that can’t be done. Give the left a taste of their own medicine.


11 posted on 08/12/2017 9:12:28 AM PDT by generally ( Don't be stupid. We have politicians for that.)
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To: Lorianne
The [Alaskan oil royalty] scheme has not led to mass indolence, as the critics of basic income fear.

The only reason is because it's not enough to live on. Even in oil-rich Alaska, a quart of motor oil is $10 and a dozen eggs is $5. $2000 just doesn't go very far.

This entire idea is horrible from the outset. You think the gov't is intrusive now, wait until they control the bulk of your income. How can you tax the productive elements of society, pay that to the unproductive, and expect the system to continue? What do they think pure communism is? And history is strewn with the wreckage of societies that have tried this in the past. Mark: stick to what you know.

12 posted on 08/12/2017 9:12:32 AM PDT by econjack
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To: Lorianne
Those who use the internet should pay to use the internet. Those who are used by the internet should be paid by the internet.
13 posted on 08/12/2017 9:13:56 AM PDT by snarkpup (The swamp is draining; and the alligators are allegating.)
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To: generally

Oh, IDK, I might make an exception here.

IMO taking money from me in taxes and redistributing it to other people is extortion and theft. But the left (and the UniParty) likes this, because it serves their purposes. They think that theft is just dandy when it’s theft that was voted on. So, consider this: How about we vote a very special tax on FB (and Google and any other companies who engage in invasion of privacy ) and redistribute that? I see no reason why that can’t be done. Give the left a taste of their own medicine.
...
It would be better to call it a royalty then...changing the language from the commies...i totally agree eith your reasoning


14 posted on 08/12/2017 9:18:00 AM PDT by CincyRichieRich (We must never shut up. Covfefe: A great dish served piping hot!)
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To: buffaloguy

Walmart opened a Neighborhood Market near me a couple of years ago. It has 4 or 5 cashier stations and about 6 self-check-out stations. I usually shop weekdays around 10 a.m. Most of the time only 1 or 2 of the cashier stations are even 'manned' or 'womaned'. I kind of chuckle, because I only see mayby one or two customers using the self-check-outs, but 3 or 4 Walmart employeed standing around to help the self-check-out-ees who run into trouble with the equipment.

It would seem more cost effective to put one or 2 of those standing around to work at a cashier station. Many times, the one or two open stations are backed up with several customers in line to check out. I do not recall ever seeing more than 2 customers at the self-check-outs.
15 posted on 08/12/2017 9:24:28 AM PDT by TomGuy
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To: Lumper20
Facebook has sold the INFO of everyone who ever used it. The kid owner basically used every trick in the book to replace Equifax plus other insurance underwriting sources.

A lot of folks are okay with it though, because they can check a prospective employee's digital footprint to see what they've been up to.

It's a slippery little world out there. Whatever happened to MYOB? Or the use of discretion? Or keeping the dirty laundry in the basket? Or of just looking up a friend, no ulterior mischief or "networking" involved?

People used to not have to worry so much about being listed in the phonebook. The new "Facebook phonebook" though, *is* the peeping Tom. And yet users not only leave the window open, they take a shower in front of it.

Symbiotic relationships, co-dependencies, who knows.. as long as everybody is superficially "liked".

The author illustrates the hypocrisy of our "betters", but in line with your comment, could anyone imagine what this creepy little Facebook fellow would demand in return for his "basic income"?

It starts out innocently enough, swapping cat pictures...

16 posted on 08/12/2017 9:30:48 AM PDT by Ezekiel (All who mourn(ed!) the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
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To: Lorianne

Once upon a time, hunter-gatherers began farming. They could grow more food than they could collect from the wild, and that freed some people up. Instead of a basic grain ration for the excess population, new specializations were found. They made baskets and pottery. They made better homes and barns. They began basic manufacture.

Each step in economic advancement has been similar. Occasionally, we do something stupid (from the Romans to today’s welfare), but if we are sensible and let the marketplace both create new kinds of work and encourage people to find some productive work, everyone benefits. The only backward steps are when we allow socialism to “help” the less fortunate. Universally, that harms everyone, especially the disadvantaged.


17 posted on 08/12/2017 9:39:10 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: Lorianne

I refuse to have a Facebook account with my name ..... and not based on email address using my name. I only have one for when FR is down. And other sites are down. Anyone who knows me and looks for me won’t find me.


18 posted on 08/12/2017 9:55:11 AM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: AlaskaErik
I don’t know what Facebook intends to do with the info it has on me, but anyone who buys it is wasting their money when it comes to me.

That's what these guys bank on, that normal, decent, innocent people (by reason of their being normal and decent), can't even begin to wrap their minds around what would be done with their innocuous, personal info.

For one thing, it tells the worst sorts of malicious characters exactly who are their biggest threats, the ones who would rise up to destroy their schemes: the normal, decent, and innocent.

19 posted on 08/12/2017 9:59:42 AM PDT by Ezekiel (All who mourn(ed!) the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
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To: Lorianne

I like the way this guy thinks!

Since we are the product that Facebook and Google sell, we should get a cut of the income they get from every one of our clicks.


20 posted on 08/12/2017 10:13:33 AM PDT by aquila48
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