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Re:The New Luddites: What if technological innovation is a j... by tim333 on Thursday August 07, 2014 @09:22AM (#8147536)
On the other hand we (I'm in the UK) seem to be drifting in that direction, that if you don't work you get social security. I don't know that it will ever be a simple fixed amount though as the government want to encourage people to be somewhat productive rather than just getting drunk etc. Here's part of the UK system:

http://www.focusondisability.org.uk/brates-1.html

Re:The New Luddites: What if technological innovation is a j... by pjc50 on Thursday August 07, 2014 @10:04AM (#8147746)
Absolutely not - we're going in the other direction.

"Universal credit" is an administrative project to coordinate all the existing systems. The disability payments you linked to are subject to increasingly stringent processes which end up declaring terminally ill or permanently severely disabled people "fit to work" and withdrawing the funds they need to survive. This has resulted in some poverty-related deaths and suicides.

Jobseekers' allowance is also subject to heavy scrutiny. I've heard that the best strategy if you have children is to declare yourself self-employed on a zero-hours basis: this stops the jobcentre from hassling you as you no longer count as "unemployed", you just don't have any work. You can then claim "working family tax credits", housing benefit, and child benefit.

Re:The New Luddites: What if technological innovation is a j... by tim333 on Friday August 08, 2014 @05:48AM (#8152107)
Guess it depends on the time frame. I was thinking more now compared with 100 years ago. I'll give you the present Tory government is trying to undo it but I think they are fighting against the tide of history.