UBI is loosely tied to automation, but more a consequence of debt based money. When you rent your currency, there has to be some input into the model or it collapses after the original stock of value is exhausted. Currently that input is from the borrower of last resort (US Govt) masked by trade imbalance. "Saving" the banks in 2008 was wildly unpopular, expensive, and can only be repeated with severe repercussions. So now UBI is being talked up to deal with the automation bogeyman.
Its important to remember UBI would do a few dramatic things to the social safteynet landscape. Most importantly it would remove the overhead from the thousands of social assistance programs, including social security. Printing a check to everyone with a Social Security number is vastly less labor intensive than means testing. Also, eliminating SS alone would remove 5+ trillion (as of 2015) from the national debt.
UBI if implemented would inject cash into the system not to "free" people, but to service existing debt and allow room for more debt based consumption. UBI will never be enough to buy your way off the animal farm though. It is a backdoor bailout of banks and credit card companies that is more palatable to the masses than injecting it directly.
It will also be unlikely to raise taxes significantly. How can that be when the cost of even $1K to every adult citizen would be 250 Billion a month? Cost savings from eliminating the enormous bureaucracy and removal of non-citizens from public assistance would zero out a portion of the cost. Ultimately though the US government is NOT funded by taxes, but by debt. Taxes are just another method of control over the masses, as Al Capone could tell you.
Don't get me wrong - we're fucked no matter what. UBI is a damn stupid solution, just not for the reasons most people think. Its disgustingly populist, dodges the collapse of the social security ponzi, and gives the fiat game a little longer runtime before it explodes. It's can kicking and political expediency disguised as compassion.
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exi1ed0ne ago
UBI is loosely tied to automation, but more a consequence of debt based money. When you rent your currency, there has to be some input into the model or it collapses after the original stock of value is exhausted. Currently that input is from the borrower of last resort (US Govt) masked by trade imbalance. "Saving" the banks in 2008 was wildly unpopular, expensive, and can only be repeated with severe repercussions. So now UBI is being talked up to deal with the automation bogeyman.
Its important to remember UBI would do a few dramatic things to the social safteynet landscape. Most importantly it would remove the overhead from the thousands of social assistance programs, including social security. Printing a check to everyone with a Social Security number is vastly less labor intensive than means testing. Also, eliminating SS alone would remove 5+ trillion (as of 2015) from the national debt.
UBI if implemented would inject cash into the system not to "free" people, but to service existing debt and allow room for more debt based consumption. UBI will never be enough to buy your way off the animal farm though. It is a backdoor bailout of banks and credit card companies that is more palatable to the masses than injecting it directly.
It will also be unlikely to raise taxes significantly. How can that be when the cost of even $1K to every adult citizen would be 250 Billion a month? Cost savings from eliminating the enormous bureaucracy and removal of non-citizens from public assistance would zero out a portion of the cost. Ultimately though the US government is NOT funded by taxes, but by debt. Taxes are just another method of control over the masses, as Al Capone could tell you.
Don't get me wrong - we're fucked no matter what. UBI is a damn stupid solution, just not for the reasons most people think. Its disgustingly populist, dodges the collapse of the social security ponzi, and gives the fiat game a little longer runtime before it explodes. It's can kicking and political expediency disguised as compassion.