I'm not an economist, which might be an advantage in this discussion, but I was thinking about the universal basic income idea. One of my clients works casual hours in a physically dangerous and highly specialised job (commercial diving) and might get a bit of work now and then. But let's say he doesn't get work for a fortnight, so he gets a Centrelink payment. Then he gets a day's work or maybe two and he earns so much money he has to pay Centrelink back. l mean, that process must end up costing the DHS a bt of money. Wouldn't it be cheaper and more straightforward to let him earn what he can and still receive the universal basic income instead of this here-it-is-give-it-back from Centrelink?
I agree, and yes that makes us lefties, but if they are honest, most righties are enjoying the rights won by lefties over the past 100+ years. But to your point. The next decade or two is going to see one of the largest changes in employment since the industrial revolution. Computers and the technology they bring, digital phones, the internet, digital cameras, robotics, and artificial intelligence etc may have started in earnest 30 years ago it is only now we are starting to really feel the effects and are able to see what the future holds to a degree. One thing I do know, and I am not the only person who thinks so, but by the year 2050, that is about when my grandchildren are in their late 30's to early 40's, unemployment will be around 50% if we keep heading the way we are. Immigration can't be to blame, even at today's rates, it would be insignificant compared to changes in technology and trade. Immigrants not only take jobs, they consume as well. We are going to look at a complete restructure of our workforce and welfare. We need to look at how wealth is redistributed BEFORE it gets to a point where violence and crime force us to extreme methods to address the inequalities. A lot here are going to say "Why don't people just get off the Rs and work hard, everyone has the chance to make it if they work hard enough". Well that is true enough, anyone can but not everyone can. Not everyone can own investment properties, they don't work unless there are some people to rent them. Not everyone can own a small business, not everyone has an inheritance to build upon. If we are unfair, they will take what they think is fair, like immigration, we close our borders and the world population increases, one day the world will look at us hogging all this land and resources. They will come and take it. It will be much better if we look at the future and plan for it, rather then wait for it and respond to it, if we can.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...er-motivation-work-wages-salary-a7800741.html https://www.theguardian.com/comment...phen-hawking-dangerous-time-planet-inequality https://www.businessinsider.com.au/elon-musk-universal-basic-income-2017-2?r=US&IR=T https://futurism.com/worlds-largest-democratic-country-to-endorse-universal-basic-income/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017...first-state-to-support-universal-basic-income
I say everyone should receive a minimum wage. Mind you that would mean no unemployment benefits. If you then earned money you would pay tax on most of it. Plus GST would have to go up.
robot you are probably correct, but that's in the old model. LRL made some excellent, broader points that I hadn't even thought of. It brought me back to thinking about the basics. Work, as Marx told us, is what makes us human. But work doesn't have to mean toil. The point of work is human survival. I think Marx wrote something about 8 hours work 8 hours recreation (no tv but he mentioned having intelligent conversation in the evening) an 8 hours rest, at least that's my memory of something he wrote. I think it was something about alienation where we work to enrich others, rather than provide for ourselves. Okay I'll have to go back and find it....But we need to re-think what it means to be human in future society. As LRL wrote It will be much better if we look at the future and plan for it, rather then wait for it and respond to it, if we can. Call me an ideological idiot but I think we need to think about the future we want for our children and their children and make it happen.
Unemployment is going to be a huge factor in regards to standard of living. Sooner than most think. Automation and technology will be two major factors and burgeoning population growth will only add pressures to the pot. It is kind of like... We all know smoking is going to have some detrimental impacts on our health but still the rate of smoking remains high. Technology is the same. We only see it as a problem when it directly affects ourselves, while it affects others we don't really care, we love it. One of the last think tanks I was involved in before I decided to temporarily retire for a while was concerning population migration within industry and the effects on employment through automation. Very interesting. I found the psychological impact seminar particularly riveting. Humans need to be productive for both physical and mental health. It is how we are built. Working is a large motivating factor in why we bother every day. Take that away and the detrimental effect it will have on the person will be staggering, the effect it will have on society will be catastrophic. Automation and technology will inevitably drive societal costs through the roof. I see automation as the beginning of the end of humanity. You see we will all love it because material needs will be cheaper, then year by year our unemployment population will double until our support systems can no longer cope. Then the automated industries will disappear because no one can afford the material goos they are selling. Anarchy will then take what anarchy always takes- humanity. It is a grim picture that I took from this think tank. Certainly not the purpose it was designed for, but a large part of why I threw it in for the life of a beach bum. The short version is.... We are destroying ourselves through greed, apathy, and ignorance. I never thought I would see it implode, but perhaps I might.
Being on the lower end of income scales I stand to benefit substantially from your confiscation of my neighbour's property, but will nonetheless stand side by side with him until the death. Theft is wrong.
Exactly the response I expected, the problem with most people here (and that reflects on the thinking proportion of society), is that it has to be either black or white. The inability of people, especially those in government, to see anything outside the box as good or an answer is what will be our downfall. Please show me or explain how you assume I want to confiscate anybody's property, that is something the "Right" do. You are absolutely right, "Theft is wrong", so is living off the proceeds of crime/theft. All of us, each and every one of us, is guilty of that.
