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

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

[DannyTN]

The politics of a guaranteed income get a lot easier when you acknowledge that the U.S. is no longer the land of opportunity

...

However, there are other trends that may be interacting with and exacerbating this original sin. Automation and globalization had already largely hollowed out America's manufacturing employment base; most jobs created during this "recovery" have been in crappy low-wage work. And when one takes automation to its obvious logical end, it's hard not to conclude that robots will soon be putting just about everyone out of a job.

... As someone with a nice, stimulating job, I agree that work can help people flourish. But in an economy that is flatly failing to produce enough jobs to satisfy the need, a universal basic income will start to seem more plausible — even necessary.

[tanknetter]

Unemployment is 6.1%

(and don’t pay any attention to the pesky labor force participation rate behind the curtain. Or the U6 unemployment number thats back there with it)

[Moonman62]

The politics of a guaranteed income get a lot easier when you acknowledge that the U.S. is no longer the land of opportunity

...

It’s the land of Big Government, which can’t be sustained.

[I still care]

Hey, this sounds good. Give me money. :)

[Resolute Conservative]

Get government out of business. Stop crony tax shelters and non-crony penalties. Cut all taxes and raise tariffs. Stop giving away our technology via colleges and hiring foreigners who take knowledge back to the garbage can they came from.

[cuban leaf]

I was in sixth grade in 1966. I remember asking the question, “What will people do for work when machines do everything, even manufacturing and repairing machines?”

I was told I was being over-simplistic. That there are always things that require a human being to be completed.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Would you like me to do the same for Monster, CareerBuilder or the like? The results would be similar.

[DoughtyOne]

Danny, do you think we don’t pay for the savings we realize in goods shipped in? Furthermore, the cost of wages per unit is not as much as most people think.

If one of our employees are putting out 200 units per day, how much more does each product actually increase in price if we pay the employee $17.50 per hour?

The answer is $0.70 cents per unit. Hell, drop it to 100 units. The increased cost per unit only jumps to $1.40 more.

Is that going to break your family? No.

Instead what it will do is provide more jobs inside our nation, increased capital being spent in each community, and an amazing benefit from the multiplier effect.

This wage thing is almost a total lie. You do pay a bit more, but then the tax base is broader and they don’t have to come back at you ever year wanting increased taxes.

Your local schools have more money. You local, regional, state, and federal tax bases become healthy again.

We’ve got 25% of our workforce out of work right now.

Imagine how much revenue we could gain from having folks work here again.

Think we could begin to pay down our debt, by decreasing welfare and increasing employment?

[Don Corleone]

And when one takes automation to its obvious logical end, it's hard not to conclude that robots will soon be putting just about everyone out of a job.

Not as long as there are sidewalks in the major cities.

[DannyTN]

"It’s not yet time for a GAI. As long as someone else has to work to provide an income for you it’s simply not fair! It turns you into a slave."

In a sense, we already have it. If your income drops below a certain level you are eligible for food stamps and other aid.

The machines won't pay for anything, someone owns the machines. So the owners will still be paying. What I'm worried about is that China will own the machines. And until our country gets it's head straight and restores the import tariffs, they will just continue draining wealth from our country until there is little left to drain.

Not certain that 3D printing is going to be all that. I doubt it's that efficient. It is however another source of competition and will help cap the prices of things.

[21twelve]

I’m still waiting for a flying car per those 1960’s Popular Science magazines.

[Scrambler Bob]

IRS wants to tax lunches provided by employer.

Not a far leap to tax the ‘labor’ of the robots. They work for free.

[cuban leaf]

From an economic standpoint, the amount at which the “guaranteed minimum income” is set becomes the new zero.

---

And, interestingly, the current “zero” is pretty darned cushy compared to the past. Fact is that most Americans lived in much smaller homes than they do now, ate worse food, watched crappy black and white TV’s, drove unreliable cars, etc. But when you raise the bar for everyone, expectations raise as well.

In a world where everything is made by machines and everything is done by machines, people can live comfortably without doing much of anything other than eating and pooping. But this would also cause unrest because people NEED to create their own personal success. The people rioting in various parts of the US have a roof over their heads, free food, clothing, yet they are still unhappy.

Understanding why is the beginning of wisdom on this issue.

[GeronL]

Universal welfare

very bad idea

[DannyTN]

"Not as long as there are sidewalks in the major cities."

Okay prostitution and sidewalk dancers excluded.

[Jane Long]

I was just going to post....well, the dumbed down masses took the bait on universal healthcare (aka 0bolaCare), why would they not want this, too?

[tacticalogic]

Imagine the effect a contemporary equivalent of Stuxnet would have on such an economy.

[1FreeAmerican]

We should start letting robots write these opinion pieces. Would be no different than the dribble this person has written.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

How about some tarriffs to keep out cheap goods? How about insisting all US cars be made in the USA? How about closing the borders? How about re-arming america? restarting the Space program? How about a return to some form of draft—A national service to pull kids off the streets? How about work camps for those emprisoned? How about rebuilding the railroads? Put in more bridges and highways? maybe build some monuments to American History. Finish Crazy Horse Monument! carve out a face of Reagan on a Mountain! maybe a new Mount Rushmore with 20th Century Presidents? Reagan, Truman, Ike, and Clinton?
Rebuild our factories! Lots of things to do.

[RaveOn]

Those aren’t real jobs — all employment websites are 100% fiction, and you can take that to the bank. Don’t waste your time applying to employers who post on sites like these, because they are fronts for about a dozen different scams. Nobody ever got a real job from any of them. There isn’t even a way to tell if they are real companies & real jobs, or just phishing scams.