Finland's Flirtation With "Free" Money For The Jobless To End (Universal Basic Income)
My first visit to the Russian Federation was in 1998, not long after the fall of the Soviet Union.
We hired a driver, since driving there is aggressive far beyond New York and Boston standards.
In conversation, I learned that our driver had a masters degree in physics. I asked why he wasn’t working in his field.
He replied, “As an engineer I would receive the equivalent of $30 per month paid in roubles. As your driver, I receive $15 American cash per hour.”
He told me that a surgeon in Moscow can expect to earn about $150 per month in roubles.
He said they have a little motto, “They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.”
The reason everybody in the old Soviet Union had a job is because of the hideously ineffecient way they did things.
In 1998, the supermarket was a relatively new idea in St. Petersburg: you know, where you could select things off the shelves, put them in a basket, and checkout.
The Soviet way was to stand in line to present a list of the items you wanted to a clerk, who writes up a bill.
Then you stand in the next line to pay the bill and obtain a receipt.
Then you stand in a third line to present your receipt in order to retrieve your goods.
Oh, and bring your own bag.
Of course not. The unicorn farts and pixie dust will magically turn into the necessary funds. Why bother with such mundane trivia as "cost estimates"? We have a revolution to promote.
Reparations are due from the enslavers that currently reside in West Africa.
Enslavement was the result of incurable inequality
I had to pay for my own college tuition and our children’s. Will I be getting a refund?
Add a couple of zeroes to the total Federal debt. What could go wrong?