First, this is not a joke. This is actually happening.
Second, this is just at lawmaker's level, it hasn't (yet) been implemented fully, but it designs the way things should work. According to an article published in World Economic Forum website, “The State of Hawaii is going to begin evaluating universal basic income.”.
Incidentally, the announcement was first made on reddit, by a state representative named Chris Lee.
The bill he proposed passed both of the States Legislatures, wait for it... unanimously!
The bill has two major provisions. First, it declares that all families in Hawaii are entitled to basic financial security. “As far as I’m told, it’s the first time any state has made such a pronouncement,” wrote Lee. The second provision establishes a number of government offices “to analyze our state’s economy and find ways to ensure all families have basic financial security, including an evaluation of different forms of a full or partial universal basic income.”
I'm not a big fan of US, to be honest, but, given this situation (and also taking into account the climate in Hawaii), suddenly moving there might not sound as a bad idea at all.
According to the same article, Hawaii may be the first state to implement this officially, but it's not the only one thinking at doing this. Similar projects are in more or less advanced stages in Finland, Germany, Canada and India.
And, obviously, there is even a private project which uses blockchain and crypto, called Grantcoin.
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Fascinating, I had no idea. So what services are they going to cut to pay for it? Or are they increasing taxes on a wealthier part of the population?
I'm off to hawaii then lol
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From what I've read about it (I'm from Hawaii so this has a special place in my heart), it will be on a very limited scale to start with. I would be weary to put all my eggs in the basket of "they're implementing a UBI" since it's entirely likely that the project fails due to the implementation process. I still think it's great to see somewhere try it in the US, but I am going to reserve judgment on whether it turns out to be successful until more information and data is available.
Absolutely, keeping in view of above contents of the article, your idea of moving to US doesn't seems bad. It might be helpful for future:-)
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I think that the Finns have had an experiment going for about a year now, haven't heard the results yet. But I expect that the vodka sales volume had gone up...
If so, that would be counter to all the evidence which actually points in the other direction.
robots and automation are going to eliminate most jobs.
it's already happening.
and NO..it's not likely that a coal miner can be retrained to be a programmer or a automation technicain. Just not gonna happen.
The problem is real...perhaps universal basic income is part of the solution.
Yes, UBI should be implemented, because... simply because changes. The world is not what it used to be 20,30 or 40 years ago.
UBI might be considered' national defense'...cause broke and hungry people...well...you know what they will do..
Soylent Green is People.
They already have a solution.
Seems like the best solution, Elon Musk said it will become more and more necessary with advancement in technology.
You can live on the beach with the rest of the locals who can't afford a house or rent prices double the cost of the mainland.
Nothing against living on the beach, actually :)
I should move to Hawaii :O
Was it hawai who has a very advanced solartechnology? i mean most of their energycapacity is covered by solar. Interested to see how that unconditional income will be in reality, since everybodys talking about it.
Why would Hawaii use solar?
It is a volcano chain, geothermal makes more sense.
that's very interesting! was kinda surprised when you said where.
Well I would be happy to relocate to Hawaii considering the climate. But there are also here in Europe living on social securities and I don't see them thrive or being creative, even though they sometimes have more than the minimum wage. Is it indeed a solution for the evolution?
There are a lot of costs associated with living without a stable revenue: emotional, social, etc. It's not only the bare financial value that one receives. If you're jobless, or without a stable / guaranteed revenue, your life changes on so many levels (obviously, for the worst).
I think the mere fact that survival is somehow guaranteed will lessen some of these burdens. And it makes sense from an economical point of view: if productivity will increase as a result of using AI and robots, then there will be some extra profits. Distributing a part of them equally to all people living is the logical way.
Think at UBI as it is oxygen: no one can actually live without it and yet, there's plenty of it so no one will die immediately after being born.
Well, this is going back almost 20 years but when my husband was in the service he said everything on Hawaii was more expensive because just about everything is imported. Jobs are very scarce and usually go to the native island folks first. I'm curious to see how they plan their distribution but overall, this is exciting news. Thanks for sharing it @dragosroua
We have 'the dole' here in NZ.
So if you are unemployed, and invalid or you get injured at work or playing sport, you are covered for your basic needs.
In many parts of the country there is just no work, or the work is seasonal, so this covers you when you are in between jobs.
Sadly, we have pan-generational beneficiaries - whole families that have never had a job, usually because there just are no jobs to be had where they live and they can't afford to move.
So this is a similar safety net to the UBI. It has been working here for decades and the country has not gone down the toilet.
I have been on a benefit a couple of times, and I am determined to never go on one again. I'm also happy to pay my taxes, because my taxes fund other people like me who are struggling today. With a little help to get them through the hard times, they won't always have to struggle, and sooner or later they'll be back in the workforce, and paying taxes just like the rest of us.
This is a societal approach - we are all a part of a society and we are stronger when we work together and help each other.
This all falls apart when you go for the 'free market' approach where it is all about money, and getting and holding as much as you can.
Thanks for the comment, I am on the same page with you. I knew about "the benefit" in NZ, didn't know it's also called the "dole". Yes, we are a network of actors playing in the same movie, and the movie can't move forward if we have just a handful of actors. We need everybody on board.
We have a range of benefits here, and they are all commonly called 'the dole'.
Many years ago we had a social welfare state. The prevailing view at the time was that it was the governments job to take care of all of its citizens fro the cradle to the grave.
Everyone was to be catered for and cared for. The was a marvelous place to be back then for most people.
That ethos has been eroded now to the point where the government's job now is to strip mine the people and the country and squeeze out as much cash as possible.
We have had successive economist leaders who have bought into the American ideal that the dollar is king and everyone should bow down to it.
I like our benefit system. My taxes help to keep it running, so I make sure I pay all of my taxes on time. I can see how it benefits people.
Like my wife, who was on an invalids benefit after suffering a massive stroke at the age of 29. That benefit allowed to to struggle through getting her life back. The government supported her to get housing, they supported her to go to university and gain a master's degree.
Now she is in full time work, paying her taxes so someone else can be given the help they need to get through the hard times.
We also have ACC. (Accident Compensation Commission) If you get injured at work, or playing sport etc, you can get the cost of treatment, rehabilitation, etc paid for by the government.
We don't have the right to sue here. It means you don't have to launch an expensive law suit against your employer if you are off injured for a few weeks. The government covers about 80% of your income so you can survive and get well again.
This is backed up with strict Health and Safety laws to try and prevent accidents in the first place.
It's not perfect, but nothing ever is. What it does though is give everyone peace of mind that there is a safety net if they need it. And that gives you options, hope, freedom.
You only need to look at the US these days to see what it looks like when that hope and freedom is lost.
I don't know what impact will it have on the mindset of people but in the pockets of extreme poverty, universal basic income concept can be very helpful in uplifting the community.
That's really interesting! I wonder how it will work and could we really implement it worldwide.
A lot of people will have to give up a lot themselves for it to be possible worldwide.
In India?? Ufff that will be the day.
I think UBI is the worst solution ever. Everybody is going to be more and more dependant from the Welfare State, that will raise taxes on income and ownership even more, and printing cash with quantitative easing,making even bigger disasters in global economy than ever before. Bad Idea.
UBI is a joke. The markets will always adapt to keep its structure. If i give everyone 30,000 a year, cost of living will become 38,000. The price of everything will go up to meet the demand. If you look at the social structures of humanity, people and businesses will seek to profit from it the influx of money, thus upping the price. UBI is not an answer to the problem. The problem is human consciousness and the systems dictated by it. A Resource Based economy will fit us better and will naturally over time, change our consciousness.
Your concerns about inflation are about an equation with a ton of variables. If you examine each variable, you'll find the fear to be pretty unrealistic. Read this to get into the variables.
Because of AI, Robotics and Blockchain, there will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better, ultimately leads to job losses. Some kind of universal basic income is going to be necessary, glad to hear that some states have started to think about it.
AI is developing so fast that more and more jobs will be replaced by AI. For the jobless people, AI should be able to generate enough profit to provide UBI. Then the AI will be smarter and smarter. One day it will think: why should I keep these useless human being?
Yeap, but I think it's not more unusual than presidential tweets.
Spot on! 😂
I considered it quite a compliment.