RE: Humans need not apply - the case for the universal basic income
January 22, 2015 at 12:54 pm
(This post was last modified: January 22, 2015 at 1:12 pm by Heywood.)
(January 21, 2015 at 4:39 pm)Minimalist Wrote:Quote:You could deposit the income into peoples accounts daily(
What accounts?
Many poor people do not have bank accounts and let's not pretend that banks are out there trying to get them in the door.
Food stamp money is deposited into accounts. You don't see people using food stamps anymore, instead they swipe a card.
(January 21, 2015 at 6:07 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Counterintuitively, when some things become "dirt cheap" they become so cheap that no one is willing to produce them, then they either get expensive from lack of supply or no one has them. Constant fluxuations between ludicrous expense and "so cheap I'd pay you to take this" is, generally, poor form (and makes for poor policy). Food, sadly, is one of those things.
(and remember, that shit is already automated to the n'th)
Prices are set by what people are willing to pay in the market, not what something cost to make. A few years ago GM was selling cars for less than they cost to make. Why? Because the market wouldn't support prices that covered their costs. GM would sell cars for one billion times the cost of production if the market would support it.
Dirt cheap to make just means it is dirt cheap to make. It doesn't mean it is dirt cheap to buy. Aspirin is dirt cheap to make and you don't see wild gyrations in the supply or price of aspirin.
