Universal Basic Income is a philosophy that has generated support over the years from a number of different people. What is interesting is these are people who do not align politically. People such as Martin Luther King talked about this while Richard Nixon, the Republican President tried to get one through Congress. Today, we see a lot of support for UBI from tech titans like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Richard Branson.
At the core of much of the debate is income inequality. The recent addition of the tech titans comes from their belief that automation is progressing at such a rapid pace that technological job elimination is going to be commonplace. While many debate this point since the past witnessed the same claims without coming to fruition, I think what cannot be argued is that technology is moving at a pace never seen before. For this reason, it is prudent to listen to those who amassed a fortune in this field.
The support is for universal basic income is growing. It is undeniable that income inequality is accelerating with the proverbial "rich getting richer". While some free market, live and let live libertarians do not see this as a problem (I know, I use to be one), the fact is this system means that most are dependent upon debt to keep up a reasonable standard of living. Again, some might not think there anything wrong with this but is it important to understand that the situation is only going to get worse. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps isn't going to work when tens of millions of jobs are replaced by robots.
I believe we are at the end of the era of creating meaningless jobs. We are now in an environment where Wall Street has enormous power. Because of this, earnings are most important. There was a time when creating a job was a desired outcome for large corporations but no more. Today, they seek to eliminate as many jobs as possible in an effort to reduce expenses. It is the nature of a public corporation that only looks at things in 90 day intervals. Therefore, we need to realize we in a world that is much different than even 20 years ago.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) helps to offset what is already taking place. The premise of this approach is that everyone deserves a basic standard of living. In years past, this could be guaranteed by union jobs or self employment. While individual businesses would fail, the overall mean was that people were able to excel through these two approaches. Today, both of those avenues have been decimated. Large corporations control most sectors so starting a small business isn't really a prudent option. Hence, UBI is really just keeping alive the belief that everyone ought to have a decent standard of living.
While UBI has majority support, albeit not overwhelming at this time, one of the critiques, even among the supporters, is how to pay for it. I was having a discussion with @cryptoeagle on a thread where he was stating his position about not trusting government and having them give out handouts. Basically, his assertion is this enslaves people. I can agree with this point which is why UBI cannot be a government funded affair. Using the same currency, which is really debt, means that the money will end up in the hands of the same bankers. While the routing mechanism might be different, the end result is the same.
This is where blockchain (and cryptocurrency) enters the picture. For those who are unaware, one of the major differences between a fiat and a crypto currency is what happens when it is created. With Fiat, before it reaches you, it is in the hands of the bankers. They are the first recipient. All money is distributed through the banking system. In the crypto world, all currency goes from creation into someone's wallet. Using steemit as an example, when you click the blue line in your wallet to download your STEEM, it is not coming from someone else. It is all new "money". You are the first person to own that STEEM. What did not exist a week before is now tangible currency in your wallet. It has a value and just added to your net worth.
Naturally, steemit operates on the proof of brain concept so we need to take action to earn the STEEM. While this is radical breakthrough in and of itself, we can take this one step further. The blockchain allows for currencies to be set up that provide money simply for existing. Call it a "proof of breath" concept. Everyone who is alive is entitled to the currency being deposited in their wallets. Over time, as we know, the value for a currency comes from the number of people using it. If everyone in the world is receiving a small stipend to provide for their basic needs, what does that do to the value of that currency? What would a currency look like with 1 billion wallets out there? In that situation, it is easy to see how many transactions would be taking place considering many of those wallets are held by people who are on the lower tier of the economic scale.
The path to abundance first starts with being able to cover the basics. Even in the developed counties, people often take jobs with pathetic wages simply because they have bills to pay. This stifles creativity while deterring people from starting a business based upon something they truly enjoy. While many point to welfare as slavery, the vast majority of people are enslaved since they have to work to sustain themselves. With no cushion, the option of saying no to a job, even one that sucks, is not available.
A basic income eliminates this situation. If one was offered a poor position at terrible pay, with the basic provided, he or she could say no. This is providing choice to people. Now this brings up the other argument, one of laziness. If people have their needs met, won't they be lazy? Let me answer that question with another one: are the wealthy lazy? Do they sit around all day doing nothing? I am sure some do. However, the vast majority are active either working, volunteering, or engaging in social activities. All these benefit society. Isn't it logical to believe that the average person is the same way. People will now have the time to engage in creative activities such as posting on steemit, which could add to their abundance.
It is time we shifted our thinking. The world has lived under a banking controlled system for the past 100 plus years. This led to starvation, wars, and overall misery for the masses. We now have roughly an $80T economy and one that is projected to accelerate. Automation is rapidly creating abundance for all if we choose to structure it that way. Sadly, for the last century, only the few at the top were able to enjoy the benefits of advancement. The blockchain technology and cryptocurrency markets offer an opportunity to erect a new system that helps everyone to profit. Central banks and even governments, themselves, are passe. The Nation-State concept is a dying animal. We need to embrace this as we move into a de-centralized world.
In closing, I will say there is simply no reason for humanity to suffer any longer.
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Interesting read!
Great article. I wonder if Steem/blockchain could provide a universal guaranteed minimum income??
There is one coming...I will be writing about it over the next month. I am hoping it will be released starting the first of the year. That is the goal anyway.
We are going to see a cryptocurrency on the blockchain providing monthly payments to people (to start). After that, it might even move to weekly and possibly daily payments. Lots of things in the works with it.
sounds intersting, look forward to it. Don't know if you know about grant coin but sounds similar. But in order for it to be enough for people to not live in poverty at least outside of the developing world, many industry's rents will likely have to be captured to finance it absent government coercion. Look forward to seeing how technology develops. Have a nice weekend!!
It is grantcoin but it is being redeveloped and deployed. Grantcoin has been shelved and the coin will be eliminated.
C'est la vie. Well seems like some cool people involved with it look forward to the new iteration. Hopefully we will be free someday!!! I hope the weekend goes well for you!
I look forward to reading that. It's something I've been giving a fair bit of thought to lately.
While I don't take argument with your premise, I would like to highlight one reason why UBI will fail. Inflation.
Bringing up the bottom raises the spending and in turn supply/demand comes into play.
While you very well could actually be right in that crypto could provide the infrastructure needed, the rest of the markets would have to be way ahead already.
Now for nations that have a hard time establishing an economy, crypto absolutely provides all the necessary means to building and maintaining a level of growth.
Resteemed!
You are under the presumption that inflation is still or will be a part of the equation going forward...
The Fed went on an easing spree never before seen in history and yet they are still struggling to get to 2% and cannot understand it. Do you know why that is? Because they look at things like economists instead taking the view of technology.
Technology is deflationary and more of the world economy is going that direction. Worldwide we are over 4% of the global economy operates under the laws of IT (processing, software, and storage) which are extremely deflationary with advanced societies being even higher.
As we move forward, downward pricing pressures are going to be seen all over the place. Blockchain will reduce the costs of transactions. 3D printing will bring down the costs of goods including homes. Autonomous vehicles will reduce the costs of transportation and shipping. Robotics and AI are going to crush the medical establishment (and expense). Thus, when I look out into the possibilities of the future, I dont see how inflation is going to even be mentioned around the world. Considering central banks are still easing to the tune of $200B a month around the globe and still inflation is in control, at what point do we see an onset? $500B? A trillion? At some point, technology is taking things down quicker than the banks can inflate (if we arent there yet).
Also, crypto inflation actually helps the UBI concept since they tend to have a more inflation early on which diminishes after a number of years. This will help motivate people not to hoard them but pass them along. Of course, this could be negated if the value of the coin increases faster than the built in expansion of the supply take place.
Very interesting comment...thanks.
You're still not accounting for greed and basic capitalism. Something has to force failing ideas and products down. If they are already monopolized and without any forseeable competition, it will not matter. I doubt a group of shareholders are just going to say, "yea, alright, were making more so lets drop our prices." This was the theory behind trickle-down economics.
Now, however, perhaps I'm not taking into consideration a complete new way of doing things OR the effect it may have on many other not yet existing industries and services. BUT, that doesn't stand in the face of things like power, water, internet, fuels etc.
I just watched a video about how pharmaceuticals purposefully create so much waste (two examples were: making eye drops bigger than what the human eye can hold and cancer drugs being changed to single-use vials instead of multi-use, so the vast majority of patients are only using like half the vial per dose, and the rest gets tossed, but they are charged for the whole vial). All of this is imaginary cost. A micro drop was tested and studied but the pharma company who paid for the study won't use it because they'd lose half their possible income. The cancer drugs USED to come in multi dose vials. Etc.
The total coat of all this medical waste cost more than the US military's budget. Hundreds of trillions of dollars. For nothing.
Pass laws that prohibit such practices, and that seriously drives down the cost of healthcare.
That may sound rather statist, but, if we accept that statism is dying and labor for dollars for survival is dying, any steps we are taking now, such as anti-waste laws and UBIs are REALLY just transitional measures. As tech really takes over so many industries, the pace of which is growing exponentially, eventually the model itself is going to die: capitalism. And I don't think its replacement idea even exists yet, because it's so pervasive right now. But when everyone has food farmed by robots (already happens!) and advanced 3D printers and internet and solar and all of these other difficult-to-monetize services? Why do we imagine the social structure would be at all the same?
It's not a simple calculation of saying "more currency = inflation". There's a number of factors that go into inflation, and they need to be acknowledged before making any predictions. One important thing to take note of is "technological deflation". That is, technology is making products cheaper and cheaper. So we actually need a certain level of inflation to counteract that.
Didn't Milton Friedman say inflation was always a monetary phenomena? It seems a ubi would only be a major cause of inflation if the government printed it. If it is paid for via taxes, or somehow voluntarily it should not cause much inflation it seems. As long as the there is a concurrent proportional increase in utility with an increase in money supply there should be no inflation.
Excellent post, mate. There's potentially a big role for cryptocurrency to play in a UBI.
very interesting post... i like the idea of finding convergence between blockchain and UBI. we always have to remember that we still live in a dark ages as a society and economic system. yes, we have some great tech, but most of our discussions and relationships at the societal and national levels are very primitive. we have a long way to go as a species / peace
Isn't that the truth. Looking at the way we debate things on a national scale, I cant help but agree with you.
Fortunately, I feel that circumstances are going to force those to look at things differently. We are in a time period where things are moving ahead at such a rapid pace technologically, that the powers that be really arent attuned to what is coming.
It is easy to hold onto an ideology or a viewpoint when everything is going well.....it is a different manner when you are suddenly struggling (or a family member is) because they were replaced by a robot or a computer.
Millions will find themselves in this situation I believe. Also, it is easy to overlook the blue collar and retail person. Wait until the white collar, well to do start getting caught up in this...then you will see the rhetoric change.
The future is uncertain.
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