Universal Basic Income is the future.

Wheelers Corner Guest blogger Peter Grove 0ffers a way forward; The question is will the powers that be accept the challenge...or will they keep their heads in the sand as is normal.

Guest Blogger Peter Grove.

 

"The UBI concept is gaining favour in a great many countries. With increasing automation in industry where robots are replacing human labour, more and more people, are being thrown out of work. Many in the repetitive assembly industries lack good educational skills, and possibly trade training. 

 

Their replacement by machines is an absolute disaster for them and their families. I notice with the advent of Driverless cars, there are now moves in South Australia and New South Wales toward Driverless trains. There was a news item in our papers in recent weeks lauding the virtues of Driverless trucks. The trucks can work day and night, there are no meal stops or the compulsory requirement for drivers to take breaks after set times behind the wheel.. and, best of all. In the eyes of their employers NO bothersome wages to be calculated and distributed each week.

 

It means the profits gained from these advances must be returned to the workers displaced, by way of a Universal Basic Income. Of course there will be howls of indignation from the exceedingly greedy few at the top. It means that Government must change tack

with meaningful laws to extract this largely undeserved wealth for redistribution among those who are without work, through no fault of their own. Moves in the countries mentioned, Canada and Finland, are among the growing numbers of countries taking up the calls for a UBI indicates it will be a population wide exercise with entire populations eligible for the basic income.

 

We have seen earlier, during the panic resulting from earlier oil shocks, recommendations of how to survive the various crises predicted to occur from Fortress mentality and armed responses to predatory incursions on private properties to hermit like existences alone out in the wilds and living off the land with all the drawbacks of such activities. Others decided their route to salvation involved the hoarding of precious metals as a hedge against monetary collapse. A moment’s thought indicates the futility of such actions. You can have all the gold in the world, How much of it can you eat to sustain yourself when food supplies break down? Monetary collapse, seemingly becoming more imminent day by day, will be a phenomenon to which there will be very few well understood responses.

 

I have seen suggestions from fellow New Zealanders, that to stave off the effects of such a crash, a stockpile of shoes would be the answer, ‘because every one needs shoes!’ Another of the same ilk proposed stock piling pallet loads of Baked Beans, for sale to the impoverished and starving!

 

See, Renegade inc.com. ‘Another economic crash is coming’. This country is not in the clear with the World Debt Clock indicating our indebtedness is at $117 Billion  and increasing by $179/second with interest charges. What does this say about the economic stewardship of NZ by the present government?

 

Reference:  http://www.basicincome.org/news/2016/02/finland-university-of-tampere-offers-course-on-basic-income/

 

Peter G.