Universal Basic Income again

Yep, and those that build the houses and offices get paid well to build them.

 

It's a loss to those who are paying it in. Redistribution works that way.

And by the by, no, it's not 'obvious'. The additional staffing that will be claimed to address the program is bleeding the tax coffers. Need a wide taxing base to support a program that redistributes money. If people reduce their taxable income that feeds the beast, since after all they are getting 'free' money, less revenue in general funds, so the taxation to support the program would have to go up. And as it goes up, the incentive to keep working goes down.

 

We haven't had real production in this country since we became a service economy and offshored real manufacturing. So, they just changed the definition of production.

If you can learn a skill in your free time then maybe you could volunteer your skill part-time for your friends and family for a few bucks and save everyone a lot of money from having to higher a pro.

 

Production is food, medicine, shelter, transportation. UBI only provides money. If we just give everyone more money, then food, medicine, shelter and transportation will simply cost more money, since there isn't more of those things to reduce their cost. They will just get more expensive. Then we'll need to increase the UBI, and they'll get more expensive again. What problem do you think UBI helps to solve?

 

Yep, you guys buy votes by handing out money to corps.

 

I hate to get baited into an off topic discussion, but...incorrect. The "moneyless socialist utopia" quote came from Strange New Worlds, set before TOS era.

 

Which doesn't negate the fact that they had money until the next gen where they got replicators.

 

1. You've been posting here for years and if you have any hetrodox opinions, you've kept them close to the vest.

2. Transportation would have massive conversion costs, and I doubt that would be done over night. It's a process that would take years once all of the legal and regulatory issues are settled.

 

Corps don't vote.

 

Their people.

 

They do fund campaigns though, which is arguably more effective than just voting, given advances in mass media, advertizing, group psychology and psychological manipulation. And making it easier to get away with bribing corrupt officials, of course.

...though its worth noting that would all still be a problem even if it wasn't legal.

 

I am against special rights due to race, gender or sexuality (or religion but that’s not a conservative idea anymore). Anti-illegal immigration. Against most gun bans. Pro-police and pro-military (I think they should be paid more and trained better). Proponent of border security.

Several of the things that Republicans were for before they started shooting beer cans and worshiping an orange buffoon.

The moment it gets approved there will be a massive implementation of it.

 

. AND they fund Democrats, too. Dems are now the party of the rich; Many investors now demand adhere to the Woke mantra before they'll donate. The investment has bought int DEI big time.

 

That's where I disagree. Replacing a Peterbilt with Peter-bot would take years. Think about the upfront costs associated with a trucking company buying a new AI truck with all the support that would require. It wouldn't discourage them but they couldn't just buy a whole fleet all at once. It's a process of years and years.

 

Yup. Progressives anyway. And they complain about some kind of imagined cultural fascism while eagerly engaging in the sort of state-corporate partnerships that are literal fascism.

The 'right' built giant corporations because it hates too much govt and the 'left' built giant govt to oppose too much corporatism ...and those two giant entities merged into a massive authoritarian machine that demands to control everything and everyone and very nearly does.

 

You need to review a little basic economics; the right didn't build giant corporations - the people did that by buying the goods and services the corporations produce. And they succeed while competing with other corporations. They can do nothing with out customers like you or me.

 

Many long distance truck drivers make close to or over 100k per year. Most companies would love to have an asset that pays for itself in less than 10 years and seeing these autonomous semi’s are anticipated to be around 250k it’s going to be very easy decision for fleet managers.

Smaller companies might not transition quickly due to cost but some of the larger companies are already indicating very large orders

 

One must have serious mental problems to believe that "something for nothing" will ever succeed. Unless really heavy mind altering drugs are part of the freebie package. Then the bums can collapse on the street and just decay away... problem solved.

 

Thats only true to an extent. Corporations can and do corner markets with unfair business practices that kill the competition. The right made these corporations giants by ham-fistedly opposing virtually any regulations. And sure, most regulations tend to hurt small business more than big, but some regs are necessary to protect healthy competition and it seems we've lost focus on that. And while its technically true that we consumers could fix it pretty quick by not shopping with the market dominators, realistically most people arent going to give up buying the things they like in order to put a company that cornered the market on them out of business to make room for mom and pop again. Thats an idealistic goal that we just can't bank it all on.

 

It's called competition and it's infinitely fair.

SOME regulations are needed; absolutely true.

. Ask Bud Light about that.
You've been well indoctrinated into LW folk lore.

 

Being productive can be measured in all forms of business not just the major producers.

 

A simple google search for average salary of long haul truckers proves that statement very wrong. The average is closer to 62k and there will still be operators that have to be there to hit the brakes if something malfunctions.

 

WE sure do have real production. I drive proof. I fly on proof. I watch flat screen proof and sleep in in a nice soft proof.

You're right about learning additional skills. I was an Artilleryman and Combat Arms Trainer in the Army. I later worked as a civilian working for high tech defense companies working with weapons development, communications, lasers and lots more. But now, retired, I've become a certified gunsmith. Its a great hobby and I help my friends and neighbors a lot with their gun upgrades and repairs.

 

Without any regulation, the market becomes Highlander- there can be only one. And maybe its 'fair', but its not gonna be good for society when one company owns everything. When my food, water, shelter and employment are all owned by the same company that fairly outcompeted everyone else and now they get to dictate the terms of every transaction in their favor, its not going to matter whether they got there by being 'fair' or not.

Bud Lite is a good example... but why didn't we go 'Bud Lite' against Walmart when it drowned out hundreds of local dairy farmers so they could be bought up for pennies on the dollar by BigAg, or Dollar General when its popping up right next to the locally owned and operated convenience stores to drive our neighbors out of business, suck all that money into corporate shares and turn property owners into minimum-wage cashiers?

 

I'm all for UBI because eventually all menial labor WILL be taken over by AI/robots. About the only jobs that there will be are specialty restaurants/stores that want to give that "human touch" and research/development type jobs (high end type jobs in other words, and this is not an exhaustive list obviously), even social jobs are going to take a hit with AI. And quite frankly there are a lot of dumb humans that simply are not smart enough to do the higher end jobs.

That said, we're going to need other things also or what others have said about people sitting around doing nothing will be true and become a problem. Civilization will stagnate and die off. Just what that is I have no idea. Whatever is done though, is not going to be an easy transition.