It could work if the promise was to give people time instead of a 9 to 5 shitty job, and assuring equality through a Universal Basic Income. That income could be financed with taxes on externalities. Taxing externalities would also benefit the local and more sustainable economy with more decent jobs.

Maybe this would work in the future, but probably not in our lifetime. Paying $12k a year to every American would already cost about as much (more?) as the US collects in taxes.

Because a UBI is cash, the accounting is a little weird. If you pay $10k "more" in taxes but then receive a $12k UBI, has this cost you money?

Outside of some nominal administrative cost in cutting the checks it doesn't "cost" anything on net, it just moves money around. Of course, the above-median person paying $14k in taxes but only receiving $12k back has lost $2k on a personal level, and that's really the cost to be calculated -- the reduction in incentive caused by the tax.

But if you use the model where the UBI replaces existing social assistance programs, marginal tax rates wouldn't be that different than they are now, and the marginal rates on lower income people would be lower when you account for the marginal losses they currently suffer to phase outs of existing means-tested benefits.

> "Fascinating ideas. They might be right. But try getting elected by promising a shrinking economy."

It sounds like the problem is democracy. What we need is a BDFL.

The world only offers DFLs.

Pol Pot for dictator!

We need to get rid of the literate classes... Like the guy reading this... And the guy wr-