What is Universal Basic Income and why support it?
We made a video explaining what universal basic income (UBI) is.
We also interviewed activist & writer Scott Santens on our podcast, Future Thinkers. In the episode, Scott answers our questions about how universal basic income would work, what its benefits and downsides are, and how societies can implement it. Steemit doesn't seem to give the option to embed audio yet, so listen here.
History of Basic Income Ideology
The idea of Universal Basic Income (UBI) – a liveable amount of money given regularly and unconditionally to every resident of a country – is not new. Humanist philosophers More and Vives laid proposed the concept of giving people a minimum income back in the Renaissance era in the 1500s. Several other philosophers have contributed their ideas on the matter since then, from the republicans Condorcet (1794) and Paine (1796) to the utopian socialists Charlier (1848) and Mill (1849).
In the 20th century, the idea of raising the income floor gained more traction, and many prominent thinkers theorized how it could be implemented. People from all over the political spectrum have advocated for and supported the idea. Liberal, conservative, socialist, anarchist, libertarian, green, and other. Among them are nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, economist Milton Friedman, activist Martin Luther King Jr., economist Friedrich Hayek, and architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller. More recently, prominent basic income ideologists have been professor Guy Standing and economic trend analyst Jeremy Rifkin. Among the famous supporters of the idea are Paypal founder Peter Thiel, 2016 US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, entrepreneur and futurist Peter Diamandis, Y Combinator founder Sam Altman, and physicist Stephen Hawking.
Basic Income Experiments: Can It Work?
Since the 1960s, several experiments have been carried out to test whether universal basic income is a viable idea and to find out what the real-world effects might be. Several negative income tax pilot programs were conducted in Canada and United States in the 1960s and 1970s. The Alaska fund dividend is one of the longest running basic-income-like experiments and has been in place since 1982. More recent experiments with unconditional cash transfers have been carried out in India, Namibia, and Brazil since 2008.
Some of the recorded effects of giving people free money regularly have been very favourable. There was less crime, people’s health improved, people actually worked more and there was a significant rise of entrepreneurship (a staggering 300% increase in one experiment), there was less alcoholism, high school students stayed in school longer and were less likely to get pregnant. It’s difficult to know what the long term effects of giving people a basic income would be, and if the positive effects would persist. One charity called GiveDirectly is trying to get long-term data by giving people unconditional cash transfers for periods of 15 years or more.
Hopefully basic income can become a real option in our age of increasing technological unemployment.
Video, audio, and text by Mike Gilliland and Euvie Ivanova of FutureThinkers.org. Originally posted here and here.
Universal Basic Income is another globalist scam that will pave the way for a technocratic future filled with deracinated and soulless consumers perceiving the world through their "augmented reality" lens. A sprawling brutalist wasteland of corn and Soylent-fed obese miscegenated drones that will ritually vote for their overlords at designated times, in exchange for an extra monthly ration coupon or VR porn session. The selling point "everyone will be allowed to find a purpose" is the only way to sell the society that they want. The automation scare is just a smoke screen to cover for losses to outsourcing and immigration. Don't believe the hype.
The problem will be the gouvernment. The idea is nice and pleasent... however I see 2 big issues :
We should stay away from ALL gouvernement proposals, we do not need them
I agree that these are major potential problems that we need to consider.
One way to get around both of them is to create a basic income that is not controlled by the government - for example, a cryptocurrency basic income. It can even be programmed to increase to keep up with inflation, and would be resistant to corruption and government control.
Then as I mentioned, let's not do UBI via government. Steemit's the first platform of its kind, but it surely won't be the last.
In regards to inflation, please read this to be better informed of all the variables involved: https://medium.com/basic-income/wouldnt-unconditional-basic-income-just-cause-massive-inflation-fe71d69f15e7#.11s7qo7v4
In regards to government suddenly placing conditions on something that by definition has no conditions, I look at real world examples of programs like Social Security and the annual Alaska dividend, and just don't see that fear being anything other than a fear: http://www.scottsantens.com/wont-basic-income-give-too-much-power-to-whomever-distributes-it
It sounds like you think of government as a big bad bogeyman. I'm not going to try and persuade you otherwise, but I will point out that there are even anarchists who support the idea of a basic income because it will drastically reduce the size of the state in how many people it employs, and will also drastically reduce the number of programs run by the state as well as reducing the ability of the state to coerce people into doing things.
The safety net exists and it is means-tested. This grants a great deal of power to the state because it is the one deciding whether someone is deserving of assistance or not. UBI destroys that power. The government no longer gets to decide who is worthy or unworthy. It no longer gets to apply tests, and invent jobs for the people giving the tests. It will instead just transfer funds directly into the banks accounts of all citizens, and in so doing, reduce the need for a great deal of other programs, as well as a great deal of other expenses, like for example in health care and the criminal justice systems.
Basic income means more freedom, not less, and if you care about freedom, you should care about granting it to more people.
Some problems with the video, though:
#1: In the United States really just one thing needs to change, budget-wise, and it's got jack shit to do with existing welfare (which should be eliminated certainly) or even corporate taxation (which shouldn't be skirted as it often is) -- it's the military. Get it right people!
#2: If the US eliminated its military, other countries could follow suit. They could then afford basic income schemes.
#3: If all the money going into warfare was put towards-- ANYTHING else, it'd be a tidal wave of cash big enough to cause a flourishing of humanity, instead of its destruction.
Yeah, that's a good way to think about it America-wise. In other countries though, especially in Europe, the military spending is not significant, so other methods might work better - namely, eliminating the bureaucratic layer.
I want to correct you on this:
In Europe, the military spending is far, far less than in the United States, but it is still QUITE significant. Start with the military, finish with the bureaucracy, and don't stop till there are no longer police to throw people out of their homes.
Yup. I would say I like the way you think. But this is just truth.
At one time I tended to agree with the concept of the UBI
I'm not so sure any more.
I'm beginning to think that UBI is not needed.
UBI is most definitely needed.
And the above link isn't even about how we ALREADY need it based on how technology is already affecting how we work differently than in the careers we once had that we built our entire social structure around in the mistaken belief it would always be that way.
For this reason, I suggest reading this foresight study.
The right kind of UBI, provided by decentralized organizations like this one, is essential to a prosperous future. It allows individuals to take bigger risks because they don't fear calamity.
Agreed, a decentralized UBI would be ideal.