Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
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Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#2> Universal Income yields some results in two types of countries: ultra-poor nations when it lifts entire families from the street, or in affluent ones like Finland who already have a generous social safety net, free healthcare, a good education system and a low unemployment rate.
So, the author says that it works when the country has almost nothing (and then any money will make a huge difference) and in countries where the population already has a good return for their taxes, and then receiving that money can provide some incentive to do other things.
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#3Quick, shut down the wrongthink! Anybody who agrees with this should be doxxed, fired, de-platformed, harassed at restaurants and whatever else we can do!
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#4I am really having trouble sussing out the author's thesis. What are they arguing, exactly?
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#5I'm a libertarian, and don't support a welfare state in general. I view UBI as a great replacement for current welfare programs including food stamps. It largely eliminate the "welfare gap", where when people earn more money, their benefits start dropping off, resulting in a reversed incentive structure leading to trapping people in poverty.
UBI implemented as a negative income tax would result in much less waste and more freedom to the beneficiaries. It's also politically viable as it could be seen as more "fair" since technically everyone receives it.
Edit: I think the "automation displacing human jobs" argument is easily the weakest in favor of implementing a UBI, especially since it's not necessarily economically realistic.
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#6> Education is ripe for disruption. There’s a commonly believed fallacy right now that technology companies, specifically VC-backed technology education companies, are going to disrupt education. That’s bullshit. Instead, Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Stanford are the favorites to disrupt education when they fall under heavy and sustained government pressure over the irrational and immoral hoarding of their mammoth endowments. Harvard claims it could have doubled the size of its freshman class last year with no sacrifice to its educational quality. Good. Do it. More students, paying no tuition, at the best schools will disrupt the system.
Harvard matriculates a teeny, tiny fraction of all university students. Doubling that number is not a solution. Even doubling that number at all ivies and elite universities is not even remotely close to a solution.
UBI may not be the correct solution, but even UBI isn't this out of touch.
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#7This seems like a strawman screed. It seems like this guy literally created an argument out of what he thinks the general "big tech" consensus on UBI is and then attacks it.
His argument seems to be the amount suggested (which he suggests) isn't enough and that tech companies need to pour lots of money into helping people.
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#8I'm a libertarian, and don't support a welfare state in general. I view UBI as a great replacement for current welfare programs including food stamps. It largely eliminate the "welfare gap", where when people earn more money, their benefits start dropping off, resulting in a reversed incentive structure leading to trapping people in poverty. UBI implemented as a negative income tax would result in much less waste and…
Interesting perspective, and something I had not considered previously.
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#9This will be unpopular, but: what if an uncomfortably large part of the population just really doesn't have anything economically worthwhile to offer in the modern context? Nobody wants to say that, but if it's true, then something like a UBI or dole (even granting the author's problems with it) is all we can do short of mounting a massive Plato's Cave-like conspiracy to convince people they are doing something useful.
Re: Big Tech’s View of Universal Basic Income Is Deeply Flawed
#10This will be unpopular, but: what if an uncomfortably large part of the population just really doesn't have anything economically worthwhile to offer in the modern context? Nobody wants to say that, but if it's true, then something like a UBI or dole (even granting the author's problems with it) is all we can do short of mounting a massive Plato's Cave-like conspiracy to convince people they are doing something usefu…
"This will be unpopular..."
the opening salvo of fascists everywhere