That is a lot harder to say after the age of 35 or 40. My social circle includes many alternative people in organic farming where I have occasionally pitched in to help, and I have also volunteered with WWOOF for food and accommodation when traveling. This kind of work, even if a mere couple of hours a day, really, really starts to suck after your knees and back begin to age. And it is not that I have given up and settled into a sedentary lifestyle – nowadays my travels are bikepacking/bicycle-touring where I do 100 km+ day after day, but that exercise is a lot easier on one’s body than the repetitive motions of farming.

My dream: we give up on bullshit jobs. We implement UBI. We localize the majority of our agriculture. Humans, largely freed from fake labor, work communally on their local farms, splitting up the labor so nobody has to wreck their health and finances gambling on a lettuce crop.

> We localize the majority of our agriculture

That means continental-scale famine. I'm not kidding - loads of countries only have the populations they have today because they can import cheap food from Europe and the Americas. Without that trade, billions starve.

I'm not talking about cutting off trade overnight, though. I'm talking about building up community resources to reduce the need. But this is all very abstract anyway.

The pandemic stimulation was an example of UBI and what it leads to - more inflation.

America needs more stimulation that's less direct cash and more services based. A guarantee for a one-time provision of free housing for non-asset holders. Proper zoning and less NIMBYism to make it more affordable (even massed mixed-purpose zones). Medicare and Medicaid for all, and making it easy for people to avail of these. More educational funding to state and community colleges, after diverting funding from private universities. Food stamps with rationing for the neediest. A solid infrastructure programme like the WPA, to stimulate rural and blue-collar growth.

Imo, you can only be truly free if the major needs in the hierarchy - food, shelter, education, health and leisure - are taken care of. Then you can help people get rid of bullshit jobs and working for a pittance.

Of course, they won't be implemented. Repubs would be crying out loud at "handouts" and "freeloaders", without saying that you can only stop further freeloading by pulling out the poor from their chasm.

Actually I quite agree with this. I used UBI as a better-known shorthand for "providing for human needs."