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Greece's Former Finance Minister Explains Why A Universal Basic Income Could Save Us (fastcoexist.com)
Charlie Sorrel, writing for FastCoExist: Next time you're having a fight with somebody who doesn't like the idea of a universal basic income, you might employ some of these arguments from Yanis Varoufakis, Greece's former finance minister. In an interview with the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger, he not only refutes the usual arguments against the concept that the government should give everyone a minimum check every month, but he makes them sound quite ridiculous. The interview was published ahead of the Switzerland's vote on a universal basic income (or UBI) in June. If successful, all Swiss adults would get $2,500 per month, and kids around $625 per month, whether or not they have a job. Here are some of Varoufakis's best answers.
First, on the need for a UBI: "For the first time in the history of technology more jobs are destroyed than created. Technical progress means that more and more high-paying jobs will disappear and thus shrink the middle class. This will in turn cause a further concentration of income and wealth in the upper classes. That's why I fight like a basic income for sociopolitical reforms. The robotization [of work] has long been underway, but robots don't buy products. Therefore, a basic income is needed to offset this change and stabilize a society which has an increasing wealth inequality." Then, on why you need a UBI if you already have a good job: "What good is a well-paying job, if you are afraid to lose it? This constant fear paralyzes."Good luck convincing many citizens to do actual work.
First, on the need for a UBI: "For the first time in the history of technology more jobs are destroyed than created. Technical progress means that more and more high-paying jobs will disappear and thus shrink the middle class. This will in turn cause a further concentration of income and wealth in the upper classes. That's why I fight like a basic income for sociopolitical reforms. The robotization [of work] has long been underway, but robots don't buy products. Therefore, a basic income is needed to offset this change and stabilize a society which has an increasing wealth inequality." Then, on why you need a UBI if you already have a good job: "What good is a well-paying job, if you are afraid to lose it? This constant fear paralyzes."Good luck convincing many citizens to do actual work.
This is a communist idea... giving everybody some money just for living in their zone, with no work required. There's still some reward for working, but most people can get by without a job. This doesn't sound very stable to me, but Greece has always had a fluctuating currency and their main source of GDP has been American bailouts.
Taking financial advice from the Greeks would be like taking Civil liberties advice from the Saudis or N. Koreans.
The fact the Greeks are for it should be enough to get it laughed out of the room.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Are you seriously proposing we take advice from a guy responsible for Greece's present condition?! Are you incapable of learning or just a stark, raving, mad lunatic with a death wish?
In which alternative universe is taking economic advice from Greek government officials a good idea? And how do we visit it?
You're just jealous 'cuz the voices talk to *me*
Your statement is true but the real fundamental reason for Greece's woes is demographic decline. The Greeks (like most European nations) are simply not having enough children. Since the Welfare State is a Ponzi Scheme which requires pyramid demographics with many young paying in for the expensive care of the old and Greece has inverted pyramid demographics then the welfare state Ponzi scheme was destined to fail - and will do so in all nations practicing deficit-spending vote bribery.
The same consideration is why Angela Merkel is importing lots of young people into Germany. Given a choice between national identity/coherent society and the welfare ponzi scheme Merkel has chosen the latter. As have the Greeks.
The Marxist "Universal Basic Income" merely extends this madness. The root of the problem is the destruction of the family and stable traditional societies that the Cultural Marxists worked for a century to bring about. Because they are in denial that their own social/socialist policies caused the demographic collapse (being in a family to produce offspring is frowned upon, especially by the socialist modern woman) they will try things like this UBI which will cause an even worse situation.
Fix the primacy of the family and you'll achieve demographics that can support a limited welfare state. Do anything else, and all you are doing is digging a bigger whole where more people will suffer for longer.
Thank goodness my country (New Zealand) saw the unsustainability of the socialist welfare state three decades ago and brought our social programs back to levels we could afford. Hopefully Europe also learns that lesson - but at the moment the loons who are defying demographic and economic reality with crazy Marxist schemes like UBI are simply driving Europe off a cliff even faster.
Wealth is created. It is created out of self-interest by the innovative and industrious, and the flow-on effect are jobs and products for the less industrious. To not understand this (Collectivists do not) is to not understand anything about the reality of economics. Wealth is created !