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> Instead of being a leech, you are just another person. There are still "leeches", they may just be harder to discern. For example, imagine a small community

by brbsix 10y ago

> Instead of being a leech, you are just another person. There are still "leeches", they may just be harder to discern. For example, imagine a small community of 5 people. Each receives $30k/yr in UBI. 2 of them are homemakers, 1 is an artist, and 1 plays video games. None earn any additional income. The fifth person owns and operates a small factory, earning $300/yr (of which he pockets half). Obviously this is overly simplistic but it's clear the leeches are the individuals who do not contribute funds (whether it's via excise taxes, income taxes, or inflation) in excess of the sum they received as BI. Obviously somebody is subsidizing them (ultimately under threat of violence if they refuse).

zanny 10y ago
There are only two options on how to resolve the growing disparity between labor and capital due to automation. Either you violently take the fruits of "labor" from capital that has no labor (automated factories, self driving vehicles, the actuaries, secretaries, typists, and accountants already displaced by computers, the engineers, assembly workers lost already, etc) or you take the means of production themselves. The 20th century saw several attempts at the later. They never worked, because you were centralizing control of everything into the hands of few, which breeds tyrants. But the status quo is decidedly more and more imaginary as we progress towards post scarcity. We already have implemented all the mechanisms needed to pay a UBI, and while I would certainly hear arguments that jus what we have now breeds tyranny, what we have now has been the most effective yet, and UBI is the natural progression into the post-labor age. Of course, I'm willing to field alternative solutions, but just like anyone sane will not give climate changer deniers the time of day in actual debate anymore, it is only a matter of time before people saying "nuh uh, no way, Ima stick my fingers in my ears and ignore all the economic signaling that human unskilled labor is dead" is just as ostracized for its fictitiousness.
tamana 10y ago
Is the leech the one who gets money from owning a factory, capturing wealth created by the automation and labor?

by brbsix 10y ago

zanny 10y ago

There are only two options on how to resolve the growing disparity between labor and capital due to automation. Either you violently take the fruits of "labor" from capital that has no labor (automated factories, self driving vehicles, the actuaries, secretaries, typists, and accountants already displaced by computers, the engineers, assembly workers lost already, etc) or you take the means of production themselves. The 20th century saw several attempts at the later. They never worked, because you were centralizing control of everything into the hands of few, which breeds tyrants. But the status quo is decidedly more and more imaginary as we progress towards post scarcity. We already have implemented all the mechanisms needed to pay a UBI, and while I would certainly hear arguments that jus what we have now breeds tyranny, what we have now has been the most effective yet, and UBI is the natural progression into the post-labor age. Of course, I'm willing to field alternative solutions, but just like anyone sane will not give climate changer deniers the time of day in actual debate anymore, it is only a matter of time before people saying "nuh uh, no way, Ima stick my fingers in my ears and ignore all the economic signaling that human unskilled labor is dead" is just as ostracized for its fictitiousness.

tamana 10y ago

Is the leech the one who gets money from owning a factory, capturing wealth created by the automation and labor?