America is running out of jobs. It's time for a universal basic income.

The Week ^ | 09/09/2014 | Ryan Cooper

[gogeo]

Hey, it worked on Star Trek!

(Seriously...do I even need a /sarc?)

[gogeo]

Ya, we heard that promise many times in the 1970's under Jimma Carter...

Yes, the groundbreaking advances in solar power have been 10 years away for the past 35.

[gogeo]

The problem is that the regime used the money to keep non-productive bureaucrats in jobs, instead of using it to stimulate the productive private part of the economy. That was against everything Keynes recommended...

Not true.

John Maynard Keynes said that it didn't matter, that for purposes of aggregate demand there was no difference between government and private employment.

[gogeo]

You are part of the problem. Well meaning (I guess) but foolish.

[gogeo]

An income guarantee is not welfare...

Of course it is.

It is welfare by its very nature.

[expat2]

Not true. It is not so much a question of who spends it, but what it is spent on.

"Fiscal stimulus raises the market for business output, raising cash flow and profitability, spurring business optimism."

Keeping regulatory bureaucrats in their jobs does not add to the productivity of the nation, but in fact subtracts from it, since regulatory bureaucrats are a drag on the private sector.

[polymuser]

Even “the elite” may become a thing of the past..

I'll wager the software to replace politicians would be relatively easy. For most, a See 'n Say would suffice.

[Reeses]

flying car

Military drones are really practice flying cars. Currently their mission is to kill people but once they've mastered that they will be used to move people.

[gogeo]

Keynes didn't speak to the regulatory effect of bureaucrats, nor does Keynesian theory. All that matters is that money is spent, people are employed, said people then spending the money they earned.

Rational people understand that Keynesian Theory is a recipe and wedge for big government...which is why FDR embraced it and why college faculties still teach it...and it makes a huge difference whether employment comes in the form of government or private employees.

Only rational people...which is why you have the Pelosis of the world praising the macroeconomic effect of unemployment checks.

Keynesian Theory rests on the premise that it doesn't matter.

[expat2]

Keynesian Theory rests on the premise that it doesn't matter.

Please show me where Keynes said this. I know that is what the modern socialists believe, but you need to show me where Keynes clearly stated that point to win the argument.

[Age of Reason]

Doing nothing about it is the free market option. And, no, it will not be a disaster, except for those who are unfit or unwilling to adapt. A century ago, farmers were 31% of the labor force. Today, they're less than a percent. But the country as a whole is far richer.

To use your reasoning: a century ago the United States had much smaller government, and today we have massively larger government, but the country as a whole is far richer.

[cynwoody]

Government, above a certain small size, is a net drag on the economy.

If the US labor force were still distributed today the way it was a century ago, the US would still be poor. However, if the size of the government were still that of a century ago, the US would be much richer than it is now.

[cynwoody]

Just look at the political mindset of Google, and what that company thinks your fate should be, what your life should be like.

They and their ilk are re-engineering everything in our society and culture according to their ideals.

It's like some kind of cult of technology despotism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp9KBrH8H04