This came from a self-reddit on basic income.
What is sad is this person's reaction is very common when many hear about universal basic income. The knee-jerk reaction is that people who advocate it are just freeloaders looking to do nothing all day long.
A year or two back I stumbled upon a thread in some finance sub, probably /r/personalfinance. Someone was advocating for a basic income.
I immediately lashed out with "oh piss off freeloader" or some such but with time to sit with the idea, time to reflect on the idea, time to see that automation might drastically hurt my own job in the next decade, time to truly ponder the implications of an automated society and a mass disparity of wealth... I've come around some.
While I'm not thoroughly sold on the idea, I'm far more inclined to think it is something worth pursuing. I think it has great potential but might require a new generation to be raised with it in mind so that they might be good stewards of the resources they are provided.
To anyone that might be like I was, seeing those supporting it as a bunch of lazy freeloaders that don't want to work, I urge you to seriously contemplate the amount of poverty in your own country. The amount of poverty in your own city. Look at automation, look at how much wealth the tiniest fraction of a perfect of the population holds. Something needs to change one way or another, consider being more open minded to some form of basic income like I now am.
Edit: autocorrect fail: 'so that they might be gotgood'
It is good that this individual maintained enough of an open mind to consider the changes that are taking place in the world around us. Poverty is everywhere. This is something that is not going away. Holding onto the ideal that capitalism, at least as we have it now, is a system worthy of defending needs to go away. This system harms most of the people who are under it.
Universal basic income is about providing the basics in life. It is not giving people an exotic lifestyle. Some proponents say that individuals in western countries should get $1,000 a month. This gets the opponents up in arms. Have you ever tried to live on $1,000 a month? Anyone who is doing that is maintaining a meager existence in a country like the United States. It provides for the basics but not much else.
We understand this. Our goal is to give everyone in the Manna project $1,000 a year. We realize that is not going to have a major impact in the first world nations. On the other hand, $1,000 a year in a some of the 3rd world nations is a major economic boom. This is where it all starts in our opinion.
Supporters of UBI really need to push the conversation forward. Automation is not slowing down. The corporations are going to continue with their quest to eliminate costs (labor) at quickly as they can. We see the process is taking place already.
The clock is ticking. Manna is an operational universal basic income that went out to over 125,000 people this week. We realize there is no time to waste. Our mission is to get as many people into this program as possible. Our next major goal, in terms of recipients, is 1,000,000 people. To reach this level, we need everyone putting it in high gear. Many are saying that the first job eliminating wave of automation could happen in as little as 5 years. That is not a lot of time.
We love to read articles where people are opening their mind up to the concepts contained within UBI. This is one of the most important issues facing humanity over the next decade. As automation takes over a larger portion of the economy, how do people survive?
To get your weekly distribution of manna, go to https://www.mannabase.com to sign up.
$1000 a year will be a godsend to millions across this planet!
Real "Laziness" doesn't exist from my experience. When we are "lazy" it merely implies that we need a break from hard work or don't have Heart resonate with a system in the first place. This is a good sign!
My definition of discipline is defined by potential outcome as the exclusive motivation to keep us on track with the execution of an occupation which is against our Heart's passion.
In 3D centralization, everything is turned upside down as to cause and effect. The cause is always searched outside of us, never within, while we always put ourselves at the effect, instead of seeing that the outside is at the effect.
Yet in 5D, WE are the cause, and the outside is the effect.
In terms of shifting from centralization to decentralization, 3D consciousness will ascribe the consequent chaos during the process of shifting to the looming failure of the new, while in 5D consciousness we see that the chaos is merely exposing the failure of the old. Old Centralization, not new Decentralization, is the cause, chaos the effect.
WE know best what is good for us and what not!
Holding onto the ideal that capitalism, at least as we have it now, is a system worthy of defending needs to go away.
That's your problem.
Capitalism has done more good for more people than anything else.
The 'problems' with capitalism is that it's been corrupted by various forms of socialism.
I assume you are talking about free trade, when you say capitalism. And that this is something the world have prospered from for 50-100 years.
This is not true. Free trade is several thousands of years old, and for most of that time way less regulated than what we have seen the last century. And what did they gain from it? The opportunity to buy and sell some food or pottery, while staying poor.
Capitalism and free trade just don't have anything to do with progress, it is technology that give progress. And technology come from minds, ideas. None of the big thinkers like Aristoteles, Newton, Tesla, Einstein or any other you can name where poor starving farmers. They all where free from the struggle to survive, with access to the knowledge of earlier generations. The more people we can free from the struggle for food, shelter, healthcare and education, the more big thinkers, that will bring progress to humanity, we get.
Capitalism and free trade just don't have anything to do with progress, it is technology that give progress
Capitalism IS free trade...yes.
Technological development is impossible without it.
Free trade includes free speech and the free transmission of ideas.
without which technology does not prosper.
The long history of free trade without any correlating technological advances, prove that free trade is'n a drive-force of technological progress. If that where the case, we would see a decline in progress, when a big market like slave trade was made illegal. Banning slavery is regulation, and it rather improved advancement, then decline it.
I also like to add that market regulations get added for a reason. Without the ban of slavery, we would still buy and sell humans (Some places they do). Without banning harmful substances in food, harmful food would still be sold. Without banning pollution, factories will keep dumping toxic waste. The market have never solved those issues by itself.
Free trade do not include free speech, China is a example of that. China also disprove any close correlation between free speech and technological progress. Also, I would rather define free speech as a trait of democracy than capitalism.
So I return to my assertions that technological advancement correlate to the number of people freed from the struggle for food, shelter, healthcare and education. This is based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which implies there are other higher level needs that will improve progress, free speech probably being one of them. But you can't fulfill a higher level need, without first fulfill the lower level ones. A starving man will always value food above the right to share his opinion.
So I return to my assertions that technological advancement correlate to the number of people freed from the struggle for food, shelter, healthcare and education
No argument there.
Historically which form of economic system has done done the best job of promoting technological advancement?
The monetary economic system is the only system used since the start of civilization. Socialism, regulations and planned economy use the same system as free market capitalism. Capitalism and free market is just the idea that liberalism will work if we just purify it. Completely irrational and utopian assumptions.
Socialism and regulation are responses to the nonworking system, just like liberalism was suppose to be. Liberalism was response to the inequality of the feudal-system, where all the wealth was in the hands of the noble. The free market ideas was suppose to give anyone the freedom to build his own wealth trough hard work. But that idea got corrupted by employment. Liberalism was based in the idea that every man was his own employer. With employment some land- and factory-owners got rich on the work of other people. Basically the same feudal-system liberalism was suppose to solve.
Then Marxism arrived where the problem with ownership of resources and means of production was suppose to be given to the people. Most people like to use USSR as example of socialism, except the ownership wasn't given to the people like Marx preached, but taken by a fascist state. The name of this system is state capitalism. Again the same system as before, just new owners.
True socialism exist in ideas like Co-op businesses or the Alaska Permanent Fund. Both very successful ideas. Also the Scandinavian welfare system is highly successful and based on socialistic ideas. The US actually was the number one nation in welfare up to the 1970s, and the envy of the rest of the world. The world don't envy the US anymore...
The monetary economic system is the only system used since the start of civilization.
actually that's not true.
Barter predated money...in fact it's still in use. Some cultures used a 'gift' economy...such as the native americans in the Northwest.
socialism, regulations and planned economy use the same system as free market capitalism
actually that's not true. There's a reason it's called a FREE market. The less regulations it has, the more FREE it is. The more FREE it is..the better it works. Exactly the opposite of a planned economy.
.Capitalism and free market is just the idea that liberalism will work if we just purify it.
Actually that's not true. Capitalism and the free market is the default setting. Just leave people alone and that's what they do.
The world don't envy the US anymore...
Odd about that immigration issue and the need to build a wall to keep them out.
So about $100 per month ?
So 5 Manna every 7 Days ... 20 Manna per month. So Manna will need to get to $5 USD.
We have a ways to go.