5 ms·

That's a typical fallacy: that governments are always "good guys" and never have any bad intentions. UBI will be a step towards totalitarism, that's a given.

• mpweiher 6y ago
  The government, unlike corporations for example, is accountable to the public in elections.
  • manigandham 6y ago
    True, but there remains the question of how people will vote when UBI is on the line. People aren't perfectly rational and it's entirely possible they'll vote for more payments regardless of what other changes that brings, including loss of accountability.
    • dantheman 6y ago
      It's hard to imagine people won't bore to get themselves more free shit. If you look at is history and hell Ubi itself, it seems there is no limit to how much p people 'deserve' to take from others.
  • thu2111 6y ago
    Ah yes, and people are famously satisfied with e.g. US federal elections. Companies are accountable to customers in the continuous rolling election of the market. You can vote them out of your life at any time. It is the ultimate form of accountability. This is especially good because bankruptcy as a form of accountability can ultimately affect everyone in the company, whereas in reality almost all decisions made by governments are handled by unelected officials who persist across party elections and for which there's no systematic removal mechanism. They can't go bankrupt. In some countries they can't even be removed, as the civil service isn't directly controlled by the elected politicians. Mostly they fly under the radar, screwing things up for their entire lives. At least with companies there's some sort of limit to how dysfunctional they can get before they lose influence and power.
    • michaelmrose 6y ago
      This is a crock of shit. You can vote for which style of shoes will succeed this spring very successfully. Virtually everything else more complicated is a crap shoot. Anything systemic requires the people actually use all the tools at hand including government.
  • V-2 6y ago
    Corporations are also theoretically accountable - you don't have to buy an iPhone if you don't like what Apple is doing. Are there clear practical limitations to how customers can exert pressure on corporations that way? Limitations that render it largely theoretical? Sure! (Same with elections.)
  • fastball 6y ago
    If people experience coordination problems when reigning in corporations, I'm not sure why they'd do any better when it comes to electing public officials.
  • baconandeggs 6y ago
    >The government, unlike corporations for example, is accountable to the public in elections. For now.