Month: September 2019

UBI and The Dangling Carrot

On September 24, 2019

What is this wonderful thing?

UBI stands for universal basic income. This describes an amount of money that is given to everyone without an expectation of work or anything else. You don’t even have to tell your boss that he looks like a moron in his emo jeans, you just get the money every month.

Andrew Yang currently promising everyone a thousand dollars a month if he gets elected and many people are happy to get in line for it, so what could be the problem? Who in their right mind could have a doubt that this is a great idea?

Q: Is your problem with it that he’s a billionaire?

A: Yep.

Q: So, you think, (you suspicious person, you) that maybe he’s planning on giving away a ton of the governments money for some reason other than he’s just an incredibly nice empathetic guy?

A: Uh…yeah, you got it.

There are several reasons why you should question this potential windfall that is being promised, too.

Question The Question or OMG That Robot Has My Job

I know this unhappy scenario has been sold to us like it has already happened but it has not. Whether you think that it will happen depends on who you ask. It is easy to look around the internet and find articles that will tell you that all is lost and the other side points out that in the past we have actually gained jobs after technology advancements. I am not moved greatly by either argument because frankly it kinda depends.

Q: Whaddya mean depends? The robots are coming and you know it. Who cares what happens?

A:Well, there are learned sources that have data proving that technology creates jobs rather destroys them but this is not true for all sectors, of course.

Q: Yeah, whatever, how can you trust those people who look at data. I’m pretty sure that Forbes guy is a scientist, right?

A: You do know that there is a person that is deciding whether you have a job in the future or not, right?

This is the real question, kind people, do you want to live in a society that decides you are suddenly not worth a job because a robot can work 24 hours a day with potty breaks? Is it okay that don’t even have a say in it? There are many things in economics that are explained like the weather. It is inevitable and will happen whether you like it or not. You should wonder why this is because you do have other options. This brings us to the second question.

Question The Reason

Most recently, UBI was pushed by Milton Friedman in the 1970’s. This was like many of the supposed UBI”s meant for only those who needed it and was intended to completely do away with all other social safety nets. The devil is in these details. Is the money for everyone or just those who are poor? Will the amount be adjusted for inflation? If human beings enjoy being productive then why are we paying them to sit at home? Why aren’t we putting those people who can work, in a good job instead?

Guy: Well, if you don’t give me a thousand dollars or a decent job then maybe, just maybe I’m looking at some Oligarch chow mein with guillotine sauce for dinner.

Oligarch: Now, you got it. All that super productivity that has made me rich is well worth the thousand dollars. Here’s your pittance and I’ll throw in S’mores covered bacon* just this one time, ‘cos you’re such a swell guy.

What happened that last time that we had a slew of people that were jobless and starving? That’s right, they got together and in roughly 1930 and put pressure on FDR to do something. FDR was forced to create most of the social safety nets that we have today because he was facing a large and angry population. These people understood that our system will slide back to a few with a whole a lot and tons of people with too little, it always has. FDR “saved capitalism” by placating the populace with these safety nets.

Do we really want these large tragedies and small victories to go on forever?

Conclusion

UBI can be a wonderful thing for many people. It can give the homeless homes, pay the rent for the unemployed and generally be a source of income for those that need it. Caring for others in our society is good for us, them and the economy. My only caution is look at he big picture and see whether you are supporting an economy that you want for everyone in the future and not just one that seems to be convenient for you at the moment.

Part 2

By admin

On September 5, 2019

In Economics

Don’t worry about the deficit—Part 2

Then why are they always saying it

The short answer is that it gets them what they want. When they come back to you with, “How are we going to pay for this?” Have you seen our deficit?” They use this particular gem to explain why someone’s hard working mom, dad, or uncle can’t have universal healthcare, decent social security payment or worse yet have their student debt paid off. This tactic has been used many times, usually accompanied by wide eyes and disturbingly curled lips. I have only seen this expression on politicians describing the “evils” of a deficit and on the faces of high schoolers studying flesh-eating bacteria for the first time. It is a fairly effective technique to get everyone behind the “belt-tightening” that will only be applied to social programs.

Go back a few decades (yes, get in your time machine and we’ll wait) and you will be able to hear neoliberals from the Reagan era start the call of, “If you make this large and immoral debt, then your children will receive an enormous bill in the future and they don’t deserve this!” No one has ever gotten a bill, of course, because this is simply theatre, folks.

In the neoliberal fantasy world, this is what would have been sent to you:

Dear Taxpayer

We’re so sorry that it has taken us 40 years to get this to you and quite honestly you can just give it to the youngest person in your household. We have warned repeatedly about the evils of letting us spend money that we claim to not have and now this has really, actually, happened.**

This is only a token bill but, frankly, if you decide that you want something in the future , like, say, parental leave or food stamps, then really, we’re gonna come by your house and collect.*

Thank you so much for your cooperation,

The Management



<New Nited States of Amurika >				INVOICE : 1456823
<1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500>
<(202) 456-1111 >
					DATE-The Future

					INVOICE NO. 2144656667


			*Payment terms (due on receipt, due in 365 days (sorta)>
BILL TO		SHIP TO
<Mr. Nameless Rabble >		<USA >
<ACME Corp. >		<TheFED >
<999 Jekyl Lane Leadwater MI 30953 >		Downdaroad >
<771-653-1123 >		<800-323-3232>
<Aftermecomesthe@deluge.com >


DESCRIPTION	QTY	UNIT PRICE	TOTAL
Stuff before & Carter			50000.00
Reagan			50000.00
The first Bush			700.00
Clinton and Obama			288,000.00
The second Bush			5,234,122.03
Guilt payment for letting us spend so much			1200.00
Just in case you want anything in the future			899,100.00
Remarks / Payment Instructions:			SUBTOTAL	6,523,122.03
				DISCOUNT	0.00
				SUBTOTAL LESS DIS-COUNT	0.00
				TAX RATE	0.00%
				TOTAL TAX	0.00
				SHIPPING/HANDLING	0.00
			Balance Due	$ 6,523,122.03

*Please see note on invoice

**This threat only applies to social programs. Any debt incurred for the purposes of war (you know, we call it “defense”) or other stuff like bailing out the people who caused the last major recession doesn’t count. Don’t worry about it, we don’t.

Thanks again.

Do you see a trend? Yeppers, tons of deficit type stuff that averaged 2.9 % of our happy GDP.

Conclusion

If this were a concern then you would see a very different graph. MMT tells us that this is not the end of the world as we have been told that it is, but I will get into MMT at a later date. Suffice it to say that we have carried deficits for a very long time (with one little blip in the middle) and it has not brought about the end of the world or a bill from the feds saying that your kids owe a dime.