It breaks all these unsustainable practices and con tricks, AND IT SAVES MONEY.
Oh, and it doesn't funnel money to offshoring wealthy sociopaths.
Money for UBI ends up in the pockets of people who need it to live, who spend it, and will spend it in their communities reducing the need for centralised support, means testing and other inefficiencies.
When you are poor, in many ways you can't afford to work, which is why so many basic income pilots focused on low income households show increased work.
When you have some non-zero amount of money, UBI assists work.
There is then some amount of money high enough to reduce work.
I wish more people who are worried about FOSS supply side attacks would realize that universal basic income and free healthcare would result in an almost infinite stream of excellent software from people who care more about quality than profit.
The shitty jobs still exist and still need to get done, even when there's #UBI. The difference is, with UBI people can say "No" to shitty jobs with poor pay. So to get the shitty jobs done they have to pay enough so people want to do them. UBI makes shitty jobs a bit less shitty.
Farmers have realised that Brexit has done them few favours (they were warned, of course) & now seek a solution that is popular on Mastodon: universal basic income.
It seems that farmers have hit on UBI as a form of funding that will replace the EU funding model they lost having (at least round here) deciding to bite the hand that fed them.
Q. would UBI for farmers help the more general case or provide evidence of its financial unsustainability?
#Billionaires want to #dismantle#socialsecurity and put all your money in their bank accounts. I think we should do the opposite and take their #trilliondollars, put it into social security, and put everyone below $250k on #disability . You don’t have to call it #ubi if you don’t want to. It’s not #socialism I promise.
What if we made it entirely illegal for corporations to own homes? And then we guaranteed housing.
C'mon people, this is one of the most basic, bottom line functions of a government.
Shelter, food, water, medical care.
Literally the things you need to survive, because there is no rule anywhere in physics saying you have to make money to survive or justify your existence. Everything past those is a cultural artifact.
Finally got the new instance working so now I need an #introduction
I'm a retired former Facilitator, Writer and worked in community service organizations for 11 years. A long time ago I also used to DJ on radio and in Vancouver clubs.
I now create Signal Thirteen, a project based around the small and haunted town fictional of Fall River. There is a website, radio station and even a 90s style #bbs. It's very much a WIP, but nothing's ever "finished" on a project like this... 1/2
...so if things don't look finished that's part of the plan. I thought it would be interesting to have folks able to follow the project as it continues to grow.
I am a firm progressive, #antifa, and a believer in compassion, kindness as well as concrete representation of those values such as #UBI and Housing for all.
I'm against federation with Threads (one of the reasons for my instance). Other interests are #BBS, #AIArt, #cycling, and of course my lovable Housewolf. 2/2
Been working on building it for the last however many years.
(We even ran a prototype a few years ago with the City of Ghent to see what it would look like if a municipality sponsored their citizens’ Small Web places.)
We need to require governments begin implementing UBI and taxing the rich or there will be a massive dying off of malnourished and starving people literally in our own backyards.⬇️
"Food prices will climb everywhere as temperatures rise due to climate change – new research " ..up to over 3% per year!
(Pensions do not increase this much.)
“When someone steals another's clothes, we call them a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not?…the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.” — Basil the Great
I still want to know what exactly is going to stop #landlords from simply hiking rent equal to the #UBI amount.
Sure, that works on a small scale because landlords don't know whether every tenant is receiving the money, but if you make the BI actually U, then they will know that, and raise rent accordingly.
Unless this is somehow prevented, UBI will be nothing more than a subsidy to landlords. Landlords do not need more subsidies.
I am going to attempt to eat wonton soup soon - first solid food in days. If it creates tooth/mouth pain - will have congee & preserved bean curd instead. I should be able to talk again, at regular volume, without mouth pain, by Friday👍
Dear #Tory voters, or Scumbags if I may be informal, if you don't want a society filled with what you perceive as "jobsworths", then maybe don't create a society where being fired and facing unemployment is a fast track to permanent soul crushing poverty. Because if being unemployed is intolerable, people are not gonna put their jobs at risk to bend the rules for you.
We worry about providing Universal Basic Income because people might stop working, but here's a thought: maybe, just maybe, with a little financial security, people might actually pursue work they truly choose rather than work to just not die. Imagine that world for a moment.
Another way to describe this depiction of "welfare" is "we should all pay with our taxes to keep the reserve army of labour up to date, so that the employers can keep all wages as low as possible".
In fact, I would be fine with that IFF taxes would be proportional to one's income percentile: you are in the first income percentile (the poorest percentile), you pay 1% of your income in taxes; you are in the last income percentile, you pay 99% of your income in taxes.
In this way, the richest would pay for the upgrade of the reserve army of labour they need.
Anyway, the real problem with #UBI is that, everything else unchanged, it would be completely cancelled by inflation. With a caveat: when the UBI becomes the new zero, governments would be able to blackmail people depending on it.
Incidentally, this is also the obvious reason why many USA billionaires say they want UBI.
Another way to describe this depiction of “welfare” is “we should all pay with our taxes to keep the reserve army of labour up to date, so that the employers can keep all wages as low as possible”.
That would not be a fair or accurate description of how economic systems work. An educated and well trained populace is one most enabled to start new businesses and create new inovation, not just a supply of work force. So the idea that it keeps the workforce uptodate while ignoring the fact that it actually converts (over time) a large portion of the workforce into business owners themselves is a completely inaccurte idea and not at all in line with the reality of the situation.
In fact, I would be fine with that IFF taxes would be proportional to one’s income percentile: you are in the first income percentile (the poorest percentile), you pay 1% of your income in taxes; you are in the last income percentile, you pay 99% of your income in taxes.
Progressive vs flat tax is another issue and I wont address that as I dont want to derail things off on a tangent. But to be clear I am not arguing for flat taxes here so this is largerly a moot point.
Anyway, the real problem with #UBI is that, everything else unchanged, it would be completely cancelled by inflation.
No it doesnt work that way for two reasons 1) everything else is not unchanged, the act of educating the populace has mass wide spread changes on every aspect of economy for the better 2) it would not cause inflation as it isnt increasing the money supply. If you printed money to cover the UBI then sure, but when it is coming from taxes this is not a correct statement.
With a caveat: when the UBI becomes the new zero, governments would be able to blackmail people depending on it.
This caveat certainly has some validity to it.
Incidentally, this is also the obvious reason why many USA billionaires say they want UBI.
Honestly, I doubt you have any idea what billionaires want or what motivated them. And I suspect you have a very twisted/biased view about them that makes it impossible for you to make such statements objectively and accurately. Then again I’d say that about most people.
Uhm... if you actually meant that people studying whatever they decide to study to any degree should earn a decent income that make them independent, then I agree that this is a better alternative to #UBI.
But note: the income should be granted to anyone studying whatever they are interested into, not to people studying "what the market need".
If that's what you meant, I'm sorry for misunderstanding your words (but I also suggest you to be more clear next time: "job training" is a very specific kind education, designed to only teach people how to perform a specific job, not for example how to run a company that could compete in the market or create innovative technologies).
Yet the "who pays?" issue persist: you know that such "Universal Culture & Income" would have a huge economical cost: how do you think it could be payed through taxation?
Uhm… if you actually meant that people studying whatever they decide to study to any degree should earn a decent income that make them independent, then I agree that this is a better alternative to #UBI.
No not exactly, but not too far off. People should be able to study whatever marketable skill they want, but it should be totally up to them which skill it is. Do i think someone should be able to go to school to become a the best bubblegum chewer in the world, no, but they should be able to pick and choose their career between any of the choices that will allow them to provide enough utility to society that they can sustain themselves without welfare in the future.
But note: the income should be granted to anyone studying whatever they are interested into, not to people studying “what the market need”.
No that is non-sensical and literally doesn’t solve the problem. The goal is produce people who have something to offer society that is of value to its fellow members. That can represent art, music, and plenty of fields that are all marketable skills. It doesnt mean you can learn how to become the best weed smoker in the world and expect people to pay for it or whatever other silly nonsense you might come up with.
Or maybe I misunderstood your words: did you mean that anyone pursuing higher education in any possible field should be financially supported by the collectivity?
Almost, all marketable subjects (read: subjects with utility where the skill has use to others) should be free and tax payer paid to any level.
Yet the “who pays?” issue persist: you know that such “Universal Culture & Income” would have a huge economical cost: how do you think it could be payed through taxation?
The same people who pay for everything else, the tax payers. Which is exactly who should be paying to improve society (tax payers being both corporations, and individuals since both pay taxes).
Well, our society needs people who can reason about ethics, for example. We need people who knows history. We need people who can create poetry and art. But capitalist market fear ethics, as it would conflict with profit maximization. It also fears history because it shows that there have been plenty of alternatives to capitalist market. As for poetry and art in general, the greatest artists tend to be poor and misunderstood, and in no way create their masterpiece for the market (that tends to exploit them after their death).
The value of the greatest artists is often really understood decades after their death. So being able to provide value to the society is pretty different from being əble to make society understand and recognise such value.
And the converse is also true: the market pays for all sort of non-sense, that provide no value to the society, From drugs to gamers.
So pursuing only marketable skills as a condition to survival is, again, a way to produce a reserve army if labour to keep wage low.
"Educating the populace" is a better alternative than #UBI if (and only if) the people can earn a living by studying any human field of knowledge. And this does not include weed smoking or any of the strawman you picked, but might include several different fields with very low market demand, such as, say, theorethical phylosophy, history of music, or artic biology or programming in #Oberon or #HolyC.
This because the market do not know what will be valuable for the society.