8 reasons for unconditional basic income

"Guaranteed" income doesn't make people lazy, on the contrary it gets them more creative because now they don't have to stress so hard about the basics and they can devote that energy to making more money on top of that base income.

My basic income requirements include a 4500 sq foot house, stocked with food all the time, a few nice cars.. each should cost no less than 150K and a good fully stocked RV to take the kids on vacations


let me know when I can get the checks coming...

HAHAH If I had a guaranteed income that supported my family i would not work, not a single day..

If you become dependent on the State, you lose your basic freedoms. Plain and simple. Sadly, most people today are willing to give up their freedoms for a little comfort.

Once you begin taking money from any person or entity, they get to place all kinds of demands on you in order for you to receive their cash. This is an age-old fact..... it has always failed, and this is EXACTLY why the United States is failing.

The system you want will take from the productive members of society and give to the non-productive members of society. Sooner or later, you will end up with more non-productive members than productive. When that happens, extreme poverty ALWAYS follows.

The world can be cruel, but, in order to have basic freedoms, you MUST create for yourself and not depend on anyone else to take care of you.

I HATE to see able bodied people looking for handouts. It is a sickness that kills great economies. A plain and simple fact.

whatever

its ALWAYS the SAME reactions people have when introduced to this concept.


for info/answers look around the web there is plenty of stuff

[link to lmgtfy.com]

Bla Bla Bla...

In the early 1960s, futurist Robert Theobald looked at mainframe computers and imagined what the future might hold. He saw computer and robots taking away everybody's jobs. And, rather than picture a society of starving people search for nuts and berries, he saw people doing what they wanted to do, for fun, while they received one of three levels of guaranteed incomes. He figured that productive people would do what society needed, even garbage collection, and that especially demanding jobs or those that needed a lot of training (doctors, attorneys, etc.) would receive a higher level or even extra income.

His plan had many flaws, but it was still an effort to get people to think about decoupling income from paid wages.

And it's not preposterous to think about that again now, when computers, robots, and workers in other countries have taken away a lot of money-making opportunities.

And yes, I know the conservative stance supports small government without payments for health, education, and welfare, but this liberal thinks all that is BS as long as we can afford multi-trillion dollar wars of aggression with high collateral damage.

Food for thought.

this is a good idea

What bout those of us who want to be just left alone?

[link to www.youtube.com]

thats for you to figure out

Alan speaking in 1968, and yet here we are in 2012 and we're still under the physical, mental and spiritual control of soul sucking parasites and total insanity which severs them, instead of us...

This utter wisdom gets only 900 views on youtube yet thousands of stupid music videos and people farting and acting utterly stupid get 100+ million views all the time.... it just makes me so depressed and so sad

ahem... i do. i am sick of working. if i had a billion dollars, i would put all my bills on autopay and do whatever the hell i wanted... not much i want to do would make a useful contribution to society, nor do i care.

i want to be a lazy fuck and contribute nothing... until that dream is realized i will continue busting my ass and giving 110% until i die cause i will never be able to retire on what i make.

The situation is like this:
1. Only a few people are needed to produce all we need.
2. Most economic activity harms the planet.

The economic activity keeps people occupied, and those people think they are contributing and that other people are lazy, but the real problem is that there are so many people working hard while there is so little useful work to do. So we destroy the planet to keep people busy. I have worked on a proposal for a basic income with incentives to work if work is needed. Instead of too many useless 'eaters' we have too many useless 'destroyers'.

Many people desire income security and often it is argued that there should be a basic income guarantee or citizen’s income. Any basic income will depend on the income from production, and therefore it is not possible to have a fixed basic income as an undeniable right. The basic income will be dependent on tax income or the income from a wealth fund so less production will reduce the basic income. A lower basic income will create an incentive to work. Basic income can include food stamps and free health care, which means that poor people have fewer options to spend money on frivolous items.

Basic income can reduce the supply of labour but the price of labour will rise when it is in short supply. This will increase the income difference between people that work and those who do not, which then produces a greater incentive to work. If there is a basic income then there will be less need for benefits. Because people do not lose their basic income like they lose their benefits when working, working is more attractive with a basic income compared to benefits. A realistic proposal for basic income should include canceling all government programs to assist people and leaving it up to local communities to identify the people that need additional assistance.

A basic income will reduce the exploitation of workers as unattractive low paying job vacancies will not be filled. The pay for those jobs will need to rise. A high basic income can make a country less competitive, but when there is a demurrage on the national currency, the national currency will drop in value so this will not result in a negative trade balance. Consequently the country will become more competitive and the demand for labour will rise, which then will increase the income difference between people that work and those who do not.

A basic income combined with a lower minimum wage can help to bring people with a lower productivity into the workforce. This can reduce the cost of disability benefits. A basic income will also help to make people with different work ethics live in harmony. People who do not like to work may choose to live of the basic income. It is sometimes argued that a basic income will attract illegal immigrants but illegal immigrants are not eligible for basic income. Immigrants are attracted by wealth differences and job opportunities. Those wealth differences and job opportunities probably will not change much because of the basic income.

If production is meachanised and automated or if we refrain from unneccesary economic activities that harm the planet, there will not be enough work for all unless people work less on average. Ending unnecessary economic activities does not reduce wealth, but increases wealth, as less irreplaceable resources are wasted on frivolous activity. Basic income is a market solution to reduce average working hours with a minimal need for regulation. The alternatives are heavy competition between labourers and useless economic activities that destroy the planet to employ more people. It is therefore in the interest of everyone to have a basic income.

Last Edited by niphtrique on 10/10/2012 03:05 AM

The reason I make so much money is because I have sacrificed friends and family to work on a drilling rig in the middle of nowhere, busting my ass with no life in minus -40° C below zero so people can have oil or natural gas.

Then because of you left-wing socialist utopian nut jobs, I get taxed above & beyond what is fair based on a dollar amount, not taking into account how much it sucks to be a way from civilization that you free loaders take for granite (spelling pun!).

[link to en.wikipedia.org]