RE: Humans need not apply - the case for the universal basic income
January 21, 2015 at 5:33 pm
(This post was last modified: January 21, 2015 at 5:56 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
You're missing the fact that these welfare programs you want to get rid of are, more appropriately, corporate welfare programs. Food stamps, for example, are a subsidy to food producers and processors (and retailers)- and only incidentally to the people who receive them. They are already designed specifically to benefit the business sector.
Give people the money directly and they'll still spend it on the products those guys produce, but those guys will charge more for those products because they will be assuming greater risk than they currently are by making the short term (already high risk) production investment which is what this welfare program is actually subsidizing. It's on the farm bill...that should have tipped you off.....even more importantly, it's a lever by which agricultural futures are manipulated(for the financial sector). I know, I know, it all sounds so shitty...but remember...this is why food is cheap here in the first place. Stimulating business is best done, with this tool, precisely as it's being done....and as a side effect people get fed. Remove that, and people won't get fed as a benefit, quite the opposite...-and- you'll be putting the squeeze on business.
It's welfare either way, so any ideological stance against one and for the other is just shameless positioning. The only relevant factor if we're ultimately discussing -what sort- of welfare would be best is based upon it's results (and not upon our fantasies, or misapprehensions). You want business and John Q to benefit...what we're doing is actually a good way to do that. You want business to benefit...what were doing is actually a good idea.....You want John Q alone to benefit?
Good fuckin luck to ya sir.
Give people the money directly and they'll still spend it on the products those guys produce, but those guys will charge more for those products because they will be assuming greater risk than they currently are by making the short term (already high risk) production investment which is what this welfare program is actually subsidizing. It's on the farm bill...that should have tipped you off.....even more importantly, it's a lever by which agricultural futures are manipulated(for the financial sector). I know, I know, it all sounds so shitty...but remember...this is why food is cheap here in the first place. Stimulating business is best done, with this tool, precisely as it's being done....and as a side effect people get fed. Remove that, and people won't get fed as a benefit, quite the opposite...-and- you'll be putting the squeeze on business.
It's welfare either way, so any ideological stance against one and for the other is just shameless positioning. The only relevant factor if we're ultimately discussing -what sort- of welfare would be best is based upon it's results (and not upon our fantasies, or misapprehensions). You want business and John Q to benefit...what we're doing is actually a good way to do that. You want business to benefit...what were doing is actually a good idea.....You want John Q alone to benefit?
Good fuckin luck to ya sir.
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