Basic universal income.
A socialist bridge too far or the wave of the future?
As technology bites further into not only blue and white collar jobs but the professions as well. Is it time to man up and admit that full employment is a mythical thing of the past?
[theguardian.com]
3
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.There's something else about the march of automation to consider. We could probably increase jobs and get everyone working by doing away with some of that automation. Which raises the question in my mind, would that even be ethical? Shouldn't we be striving to reduce the need to "work for a living," instead stressing that working for a purpose/cause/vocation is the ideal?
bingst
Level 8
Nov 24, 2018
1
You cannot uninvent something and would we want to?. I read on here how a machine now can diagnose eye disease better than any doctor. We are used to automation in manufacturing. Accountancy is done by computers, now nearly all commodity trading is also done by machines. Why? because they do it better.
Automation is always going to encroach on the workplace. Even the Amish now use power tools to make their goods for sale then finish them off by hand. If one area or country limits machines then the work will be done elsewhere. This market forces.
We now gear our education towards work and industry requirements. In the future we may lean more towards the arts and social care.
Corporations wish to reduce wages; they will do it by eliminating the need to hire people through automation. Fighting joblessness is futile. The question is only how will people survive without jobs. Currently, the GOP is fighting to remove social services, and if they succeed, the people of the US are doomed to die of disease and starvation. The few tens of thousands of immigrants being allowed into the US will have no effect on the US job market, of tens of millions of workers. It is a smoke screen so people will not see their jobs going away because corporations plan it.
I've read estimates as high sd 70+ million jobs gone by 2030. I expect most people will make low estimates.
Our thinking must change as the job market changes or everyone will enjoy unemployment. For example the work week needs to be adjusted downward from 40 hrs to maybe 30hrs allowing for more employment. As benefits are removed from the job they need to be provided by the government (disability,health insurance,long term care, unempolyment, retirement benefits besides social security)
Marine
Level 8
Nov 24, 2018
1
This is already the case in many european counties such as mine. The govt supplements low incomes and a vast array of benefits with accompanying bureaucracy (the benefits are vast the money is not). BUI is also an attempt to simplify this system.
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