Universal basic income in the future

[Rev. Rye]

I've heard a bit about it, mostly on Rationalwiki, particulaly as it relates to Andrew Yang, and the alt-right fans that have somehow managed to latch onto this Democratic candidate. Among a few other things, like one tweet about white birth rates (technically more related to population replacement levels, supported by that bastion of far-right thought, the New York Times), another tweet that I couldn't find claiming that Americans are underdogs in their own countries (it looks like here, he was talking about income inequality and the ZOG-obsessed alt-righters decided it was some conspiracy theory), his opposition to circumcision (which, while far more due to potential health issues than religious [he does provide religious exemptions], these Alt-righters think they have an excuse to target two certain religious groups they despise), they seem to be most interested in him due to his campaign for a Freedom Dividend (a $1000/month buffer against redundancy.)

So, you can find this strange gang of alt-righters called "The Yang Gang" defecting from Trump (someone who parrots the bullshit they want to hear) to this Democrat who's so much they don't like, because, if he gets in, they'll still not get much closer to the Ethnostate than they are with Trump, but at least they're getting $12,000 per annum out of it.

On the subject itself, it's kind of like reparations, one of those things I think could be a good idea, but I seriously don't know if we can get it to work. At least with UBI, we at least have a good idea of what form it should take, how much should be paid, and how generally to siphon off the money for the UBI. And of course, given how $12,000 per annum is less than we'd get from 40 hours a week at $7.25/hour minimum wage (which is generally considered too damn low), it's still questionable how good of a buffer it is.

[Aegon]

I've heard a bit about it, mostly on Rationalwiki, particulaly as it relates to Andrew Yang, and the alt-right fans that have somehow managed to latch onto this Democratic candidate. Among a few other things, like one tweet about white birth rates (technically more related to population replacement levels, supported by that bastion of far-right thought, the New York Times), another tweet that I couldn't find claiming that Americans are underdogs in their own countries (it looks like here, he was talking about income inequality and the ZOG-obsessed alt-righters decided it was some conspiracy theory), his opposition to circumcision (which, while far more due to potential health issues than religious [he does provide religious exemptions], these Alt-righters think they have an excuse to target two certain religious groups they despise), they seem to be most interested in him due to his campaign for a Freedom Dividend (a $1000/month buffer against redundancy.)

So, you can find this strange gang of alt-righters called "The Yang Gang" defecting from Trump (someone who parrots the bullshit they want to hear) to this Democrat who's so much they don't like, because, if he gets in, they'll still not get much closer to the Ethnostate than they are with Trump, but at least they're getting $12,000 per annum out of it.

On the subject itself, it's kind of like reparations, one of those things I think could be a good idea, but I seriously don't know if we can get it to work. At least with UBI, we at least have a good idea of what form it should take, how much should be paid, and how generally to siphon off the money for the UBI. And of course, given how $12,000 per annum is less than we'd get from 40 hours a week at $7.25/hour minimum wage (which is generally considered too damn low), it's still questionable how good of a buffer it is.

I'm confused. I think you're reaching by connecting Yang with the alt-right. #YangGang is far from an alt-right movement. I'm part of practically every mainstream online pro-Yang community. Sometimes I think older people with less connection to these online communities somehow think that the "alt-right" are the only ones who make memes?

Also worth nothing that the statistic on white communities is a pretty fantastic play, since those white midwestern states plagued by opioid deaths are the states who will decide the next election.

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Okay

Get use to that he loves to lash out for no reason. And damn does his comment sound borderline Social Darwinist

He can lash out all he wants, but if he's not going to watch the video before commenting on it then he just gets an "Okay."

And it isn't borderline Social Darwinism, it is Social Darwinism. Contemporary American economics is deeply rooted in Social Darwinism. Thank you Andrew Carnegie.

[Rev. Rye]

You'd be very surprised at how many alt-righters latched onto Yang. Yes, the majority of Yang's supporters actually whole-heartedly believe in his agenda, which isn't too radically different from most other Dems. But still, we have alt-righters, up to and including Richard Spencer, saying they think he may be a better candidate to latch onto than Trump.

[onlinebiker]

UBI is simply another form of political felatio --- buying votes with the other guy's money.

[Aegon]

UBI is simply another form of political felatio --- buying votes with the other guy's money.

Okay.

[Javaman]

UBI is simply another form of political felatio --- buying votes with the other guy's money.

I'd bet that UBI becomes necessary before it becomes political fellatio.

[onlinebiker]

UBI is simply another form of political felatio --- buying votes with the other guy's money.

I'd bet that UBI becomes necessary before it becomes political fellatio.

 I suppose - if you are living in your mother's basement - playing video games half the day, and watching Netflix the other half. Or if your drug addled brain can't figure any other source of income.....

Fucking UBIers.....

Looking under the xmas trees for great free shit.


Pathetic.

[TaraJo]

Interesting topic. I watched a CGP Grey video about it a while back and I think he has good points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU

Robots are getting smarter, faster, more versatile and less expensive very rapidly now. Humans are not. There are already self driving cars that, eventually, could put every driving job out of business. Has anyone else had trouble getting a live person when they try to call for help with their cell phone/bank account/electricity service/internet provider? That's because automated systems can do most of the same work as a person at a fraction of the price. Grocery stores are already putting lots of self check out lanes in and since those only require 1 person to handle like 8 registers, again, it saves the company a lot of money.... at the cost of 8 cashier jobs.

And it's not just a few jobs here and there. Robots can do all kinds of jobs, virtually any job that a human can do; most of them are prohibitively expensive right now. One thing I've learned about technology is that what is prohibitively expensive today will be mainstream 10 years from now. I remember, back in 2008, smart phones were just toys for rich people to show off. Now? Now you'd have a hard time finding someone with a phone that isn't a smart phone.

So, what are we going to do in another, say, 40 or 50 years when the vast majority of people are completely unemployable, not because they're lazy or unwilling to work, but because the jobs they would be doing are being taken by robots? I'm not saying we absolutely need a universal basic income, but I am saying an automated workforce IS going to come and we're going to have to figure out how the vast majority of the population is going to survive. Right now, we simply aren't ready for it.

[EgoDeath]

I would like to see us, in the States, at least give Universal Basic Income a try. I don't think it will solve our issue with poverty (to be blunt), and I don't think it will solve the problem of automation. However, there is a very real question that we have to ask ourselves... In a future where more and more jobs are lost to automation by the month, or year, or decade, what are unskilled, uneducated people to do for work? Hell, what are skilled, educated people to do for work if their job is lost to robots?

Also, we'd have to solve the problem of deciding who gets this money. Certainly, we're not going to give it to people who live in the Midwest that make 100k+ a year, right? So who does get it?

The government is infamous for deciding that you make too much money to receive benefits; meanwhile, you're struggling to pay your bills, you're being threatened with eviction by your landlord and your car just took a shit.

I think that, no matter what, a certain amount of people are going to get fucked. And that's shitty. But, if UBI can at least put a band-aid on that, it'd be helping, potentially, tens of millions of people across the country who live in poverty.

And to anyone suggesting we can't afford a UBI, have you seen our defense budget lately?

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I suppose - if you are living in your mother's basement - playing video games half the day, and watching Netflix the other half. Or if your drug addled brain can't figure any other source of income.....

Fucking UBIers.....

Looking under the xmas trees for great free shit.


Pathetic.

So, in your mind, a huge portion of people living in poverty are people living in their mother's basements playing video games and watching Netflix? Or they're on the dreaded drugs?

[Dmitry1983]

 However, there is a very real question that we have to ask ourselves... In a future where more and more jobs are lost to automation by the month, or year, or decade, what are unskilled, uneducated people to do for work? Hell, what are skilled, educated people to do for work if their job is lost to robots?

Problem of unemployment can easily be solved with negative interest rates.