Re:What Is the Point of Universal Basic Income?
by meddlepal on Sunday February 02, 2020 @11:06AM
(#22217548)
I think you misunderstood... I don't think it will cause people to quit their jobs. I didn't say that in my post. I assume UBI goes hand in hand with automation straight up eliminating jobs. There are no jobs for people.
Re:What Is the Point of Universal Basic Income?
by DennisP on Sunday February 02, 2020 @11:21AM
(#22217651)
That will probably happen eventually but at that point, with UBI in place, we could increase the level to something people can live on. If, say, we get to a point where 90% of people can't find jobs, we really won't have a choice. Essentially we'll need to give the general population a share in the productivity of the robots.
In the meantime, with most people having at least low-paying jobs, we can start with something more modest.
Unemployment isn't our major problem right now. The problem is that the jobs available for many people pay very little. Back when I made $18K/year, that extra 10-15K/mo would have been enormously helpful. I certainly wouldn't have stopped working; I would have paid down my credit cards and had an easier time training myself to write software.