This version of UBI is a capitalist trap. Make everything a subscription, make everything rented not owned, replace most jobs with AI, give you a monthly allowance. Now you need to feed all that money into their products and services, and they can make sure you’ll never have enough to escape. Its feudalism with extra steps and some computers.
When the permanent unemployment rate starts to hit 25% or more, we are either going to have to have UBI, or reduce the population by the unemployment rate.
Which solution will be endorsed by which party, and how will they implement that solution?
Be reminded that Stephen “PeeWee Himmler” Miller has already told Trump that he wants to reduce the population of America from 350 million to 100 million. That’s about a 70% reduction. What do you suppose his “solution” would be?
Vietnam and McNamara conveniently reduced the unemployment rate. Trump just bombed Nigeria and has eyes on Venezuela. History may not repeat but it often rhymes.
The real human demand of Vietnam was with a very narrow subset of the population - young men between the ages of 17 and 45 (with a heavy bias towards the lower end) - for a comparatively limited term of service (average 1 year). By contrast, the Iraq War didn’t employ youth conscription. It used the “backdoor draft” to deploy national guard reservists and to force existing enlisted troops back into repeated deployments for upwards of eight years. That also didn’t have a meaningful impact on unemployment during the Bush Administration (notable for a comparatively high unemployment rate, particularly post 2006).
Trump doesn’t fix a flood of unemployed people (particularly older people) with war. If anything, he just amplifies the domestic dissent against his administration, which will likely result in more economic pain and higher rates of joblessness.
I don’t care how racist/fascist/terrible you are, how the fuck would the country run with so few people? Like, the population would have to be consolidated to one general area right?
Like say for instance it happens, there are now only 100 million Americans living in the US; where are they all living? Northeast close to New York and DC? Closer to California and Nevada? Or are they all just gonna be spread out across the country that everything is going to be small-town America again?
Only a few thousand will live privileged lives. The rest will serve them. If they don’t like it, they can arrange to be unemployed, but since unemployment is now criminalized, with the punishment being the death penalty, it is unlikely there will be much conflict.
AI isn’t going to take your jobs, though. AI is going to take over management of the economy, which is a very different thing.
The jobs will still exist, because manual labor continues to be far cheaper to produce and deploy than machine labor. The conditions of employment will get worse over time, as computer management tools prioritize “efficiency” (aka margin of profit) over quality of life and ecological sustainability.
That, or an internment infrastructure currently being used to deport immigrants that can be easily refactored to house chain-gang denaturalized citizens who criticized the upper class… which will come true first?!
If AI is going to take our jobs then UBI is absolutely necessary.
Elon Musk was defending UBI recently.
This version of UBI is a capitalist trap. Make everything a subscription, make everything rented not owned, replace most jobs with AI, give you a monthly allowance. Now you need to feed all that money into their products and services, and they can make sure you’ll never have enough to escape. Its feudalism with extra steps and some computers.
How about we remove the b?
Universal income. No accumulation of Capital. No robber barons. Everybody gets the same and you use it as you see fit.
Just… live your life.
Human nature doesn’t allow it. Too many greedy, narcissistic, and sociopathic people.
What a frail cop out
When the permanent unemployment rate starts to hit 25% or more, we are either going to have to have UBI, or reduce the population by the unemployment rate.
Which solution will be endorsed by which party, and how will they implement that solution?
Be reminded that Stephen “PeeWee Himmler” Miller has already told Trump that he wants to reduce the population of America from 350 million to 100 million. That’s about a 70% reduction. What do you suppose his “solution” would be?
Vietnam and McNamara conveniently reduced the unemployment rate. Trump just bombed Nigeria and has eyes on Venezuela. History may not repeat but it often rhymes.
We need to retire that slogan. History is absolutely repeating.
Unemployment during Vietnam was about as low as it is today.
The real human demand of Vietnam was with a very narrow subset of the population - young men between the ages of 17 and 45 (with a heavy bias towards the lower end) - for a comparatively limited term of service (average 1 year). By contrast, the Iraq War didn’t employ youth conscription. It used the “backdoor draft” to deploy national guard reservists and to force existing enlisted troops back into repeated deployments for upwards of eight years. That also didn’t have a meaningful impact on unemployment during the Bush Administration (notable for a comparatively high unemployment rate, particularly post 2006).
Trump doesn’t fix a flood of unemployed people (particularly older people) with war. If anything, he just amplifies the domestic dissent against his administration, which will likely result in more economic pain and higher rates of joblessness.
Water wars, climate disaster, will lead to lives lost. Food scarcity, antivax, cutting the social safety net further, lack of education…
I don’t care how racist/fascist/terrible you are, how the fuck would the country run with so few people? Like, the population would have to be consolidated to one general area right?
Like say for instance it happens, there are now only 100 million Americans living in the US; where are they all living? Northeast close to New York and DC? Closer to California and Nevada? Or are they all just gonna be spread out across the country that everything is going to be small-town America again?
Only a few thousand will live privileged lives. The rest will serve them. If they don’t like it, they can arrange to be unemployed, but since unemployment is now criminalized, with the punishment being the death penalty, it is unlikely there will be much conflict.
AI isn’t going to take your jobs, though. AI is going to take over management of the economy, which is a very different thing.
The jobs will still exist, because manual labor continues to be far cheaper to produce and deploy than machine labor. The conditions of employment will get worse over time, as computer management tools prioritize “efficiency” (aka margin of profit) over quality of life and ecological sustainability.
I’m pretty sure we haven’t needed AI for the economy to be managed toward short-term gains at the cost of quality of life and the environment.
AI speeds up enshitification by removing all the actual sensible humans who might pull the brakes.
That, or an internment infrastructure currently being used to deport immigrants that can be easily refactored to house chain-gang denaturalized citizens who criticized the upper class… which will come true first?!
And it’s the AI companies who are going to have to pay it, either directly or via taxes.