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RE: What would a legitimate basic income buy?
you confuse needs with wants.
Anyway, the increase in production has always outpaced the loss of jobs, so we can easily "loss" jobs for people not working at all and still improve material standard of living (which is arguable more bad then good).
And I am not even talking about bankers who complain that when their non-producing job of shoveling money from A to B and to C in 0,2 seconds does pay them less then half a million of bonuses.
Needs and wants are actually very close together. What is a need for you in the western world is not necessarily for someone else across the African Savanna.
as for the rest that you said, I don't undestand what you are trying to say
Its an answer to kyriacos who wrote:
Back in 1850 people thought that the industrial revolution would make many things obsolete. They couldn't imagine that the new technology would bring exponentially more jobs and additional opportunities that they could have never imagined.
-- and a lot of that additional jobs and production has moved into wants.
Wants and needs are close together, but fairly easy to decide which is which.
Having a heated, dry house is a need. Having triple the space of the people 100 years ago is a want.
Having (preferably quality) food is a need, going out to let someone cook for you is a want.
Having a phone today is often a need. Having a 600$ iPhone instead of a 30$ cheapo is a want.
Having an 30 inch TV is maybe a need (and that is very debatable, that TV is a need), but having a 60+ inch with 300 channels cable is a want, and a very stupid too.
In most cases you can recognize wants as "having MORE" of the same.