UBI, My Thoughts

I think UBI is inevitable…

Sooner or later, some government will roll this out as a populist measure. If the bullish predictions about AI are true, various white collar jobs like accounting, coding, writing, illustration will be relegated to the AI thus making a lot of people redundant and companies more productive. This will prompt the governments to give freebies to the populace, pacify the plebs with bread and games. Or rather give the rabble money to keep it fed and entertained.

There are many thoughts on this. Some people think that having a UBI would demotivate the people from finding a job. Now, as a someone that has several streams of passive income, I will tell you, I still prefer having a job because well, I have to get ready to get out, I have to shower, I have to shave, I am among people, I can even get pussy. Quite frankly, I make enough money to never leave my house. I could have food delivered to my doorstep, and just play video games all day. Although, the job gives me diversification of my income. And quite frankly, I dread the next year when my contract ends and I will have to find myself something new.

But here is something that might arise in near future. There will not be any jobs for people. So while it would be great to have a job, there might not be many to go by. Now, I believe that some people will start their own business, they might learn creative skills. Handmade artistic creations even aided by 3D printing have the potential to reintroduce the beautiful into the world, something that was lost with 20th century functionalism, the disappearance of the ornamental, simplicity and mass production replacing the applied arts. But I believe many will just become useless, not artistically gifted and without business acumen.

But keeping the people content with UBI does not sit well with me. I view this as dependence on the state, and any dependence on the state reminds me of this scene from Mad Max: Fury Road:

You just do not want to be dependent on the state that will give you fucking fiat. What is good at receiving fiat? I fear vendors will make sure you part with your fiat UBI as quickly as possible. And in this instance, I regret that people tend to think of financial handouts when speaking about UBI. Why can’t the plebs be getting stocks of companies, ETFs, gold bars, BTC, bonds or maybe all of the above for a diversified portfolio? Stocks can provide one with cash dividends, which can serve as a passive income. Granted, you need quite a portfolio for it to be worth it. All these AI companies that put people out of jobs could turn those people into stakeholders.

Source

If everyone is a billionaire, a billion is worth nothing…

UBI will come but it will sadly make the people dependent on the state for handouts. You will have a UBI dependent class of basic consoomers, and anyone breaking beyond this line will be the winner unless the government taxes his ass into oblivion.