Posted on 03/03/2018 2:08:08 PM PST by blam
As automation and AI destroy millions of middle-income jobs, permanently forcing (primarily male) workers from the workforce, Americans are beginning to reconsider their attitudes toward a radical policy tool that’s popular among some segments of the left: Universal Basic Income.
According to CNBC, a recent poll conducted by Northeastern University and Gallup found that 48% of Americans support the measure. In an association that’s hardly a coincidence, the poll also showed that three-quarters of Americans believe machines will take away more jobs than they’ll generate…
Unsurprisingly 65% of Democrats want to see a universal basic income and 54% of people between the ages of 18 and 35 do. In comparison, just 28% of Republicans support UBI.
While proposals for universal basic income programs vary, the most common one is a system in which the federal government sends out regular checks to everyone, regardless of their earnings or employment. That system is being tested in Canada and Finland, as well as Stockton, California, which recently emerged from bankruptcy but remains mired in poverty.
Support for UBI and wariness about automation/AI have become closely linked in the public consciousness. The movement has even inspired America’s first “anti-automation” presidential candidate: New York businessman Andrew Yang is launching a “longer-than-long-shot bid” for the 2020 Democratic nomination, on a platform of adopting a “freedom dividend” (a fancy term for UBI), to help offset the impact of automation.
Advocates say all of the UBI-focused experiments being conducted are an opportunity to show that the policy could boost both productivity, as well as individual happiness and overall wellbeing.
“The claim is often made that if you give people a basic income, they’ll become lazy and stop doing work,” said Guy Standing, co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at newzsentinel.com ...
That's about the biggest worry I have these days. And....I won't be around for Universal Basic Income.
You all figure it out.
BS
This is the fastest, most efficient way to run out of other people’s money. Venezuela, here we come!
the people will support it until they find out how much it’ll cost them.
Yup.
I tell my Saturday night poker playing buddies that they don't know how close we are....to AI & the robots
I’d like to see the questions asked and which “Americans” were polled.
Obvious horse manure; income has diminishing marginal utility.
“Today I’m a retired chip-maker and he’s a physicist.”
Computer or buffalo?
There are a lot of stupid people who think this is a good idea. It’s not being tested! IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to test a UNIVERSAL basic income on a LIMITED number of people. Universal not = limited. Obviously the limited test is going to produce a lot of happy people who go on TV to brag about the wonderful things they were able to do with their new free money, while the folks who paid for it in taxes are not interviewed.
I will vote for a Universal Basic Income, on these conditions:
1. All welfare, social security, ALL social net programs are eliminated by constitutional amendment.
2. The UBI payment is equal amount to every 18 year old American citizen.
3. A Constitutionally Limited 10% Flat Tax is enacted on all income, including the UBI. All other Federal Taxes are Constitutionally prohibited.
In other words, people want to be slaves.
The Universal Basic Income would mean everyone was a slave to the government. If they don’t like your religion, politics or skin color they’d give you less.
It would ruin education, after all why study to educate yourself if you’re going to get paid anyway? This would add to the power that the super wealthy elite have over the masses because after a generation or two there would be nobody with the skills to overthrow them even if they wanted too.
Evil, evil, evil, the idea is simply evil.
I was making chips (1967) before they were used in computers. So....I'll say silicon chips, semiconductors.
I had a neighbor in Houston who worked at Frito-Lay, he said he was in chips too.
Well, all those that don’t want to be tested, I’ll volunteer to take their place.
Wealth is being artificially concentrated into the hands of those who control the markets and intellectual property rights. This is exploitative and operates against natural law.
While I think UBI will fail due to human nature, we need to find a better way to compensate citizens who have forfeited our rights under natural law to enrich those who can easily and freely manipulate markets and currencies, and those who exploit intellectual property with perpetual patents and illegal monopolies.
Personal safety, security, and self-defense are in play as well.
At the heart is technological progression toward AI and robots that can do most everything humans can.
This tech needs to be open-sourced.
God protect us from these morons.
When the computer is down,
the buffalo is empty. Or something...
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.
In theory, the UBI would replace all other social support spending, thus putting zillions of government employees who administer all of it out of work.
However, in practice, as soon as the first meth addict let her child starve while she spent her money on drugs, the whole nanny-state system would start back up again. Inflation would take the UBI into account, and the status quo would run on with slightly different numbers.
There’s a reason they call economics “The Dismal Science.”
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