Comment on Being poor is expensive
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks agoThat still feels awfully low.
Even getting a single dollar each year would be nicer than the zero I get now, but I’d rather get fully reimbursed for letting people monopolize my share of the earth. They have no right to claim that for themselves in the first place.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
If UBI was intended to be the single, primary source of income, I’d agree that it is too low. But it isn’t. The economic purpose is, basically, to remove human need and desperation from contract negotiations and labor agreements.
It’s easy to exploit a drowning man. UBI is intended to keep your head above water, so you can always afford to walk away from a shitty boss.
explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Why should they have to work for somebody else if they don’t want to? If I’m single and looking at getting paid below the poverty level, then my head is not above water.
We’re the rightful landlords, getting paid less than the sum of all rents.
Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Who said anything about working for someone else? You’re free to conduct your own affairs in any manner you want to. I, personally, want to see that you are compensated for the use of your political authority in our democratic system of government. You don’t have to accept that compensation. If you really want nothing to do with any sort of democratic society, you’re free to withdraw from it entirely.
But that’s pretty much the extent of my interest. You acquire your political power by virtue of being human; the most you are “owed” for the government’s use of your political power is that which you need to continue being a human. (Technically, you are owed less: You already receive the benefits of law and order that arise from the government’s use of your political powers. The monetary value of the rule of law could be deducted from your “citizenship dividend” and it would still be fair and reasonable.)
UBI does not replace work. It removes the exploitative factors from work. It enables you to take on the risk of working for yourself. Today, you might need 20 hours of wages a week just to live, and you can only devote another 20 hours a week toward your preferred project before you are considered “overworked”. With UBI, your “just to live” hours are zero, and you get to devote all your time to your preferred project. That might be gainful employment; that might be charitable work; that might be artistry or writing.
This “rightful landlords” stuff you’re talking about might arise from some other economic system, but not from a “citizenship dividend”. Not from “UBI”. You are “made whole” for the conveyance of your political powers as a human when your essential human needs are minimally met; that’s all UBI is for.
What you seem to be describing is more like society claiming “eminent domain” over all land, taxing everyone who uses the land, and paying that tax out to everyone. In which case, yes, you’ll receive something for everyone else’s land use. But you’ll also owe something for your own land use. You’ll owe a lot of money on the valuable residential land where you lay your head. You’ll receive a pittance on the cheap agricultural and industrial land used to feed and clothe you. The net flow of money will be opposite the way you think it will be: The farmer and the industrialist will be receiving more than they are paying, for utilizing land that is useless to the overwhelming majority. (Commercialists will pay more than you, though…Commercial land is vastly higher value than residential, which is more valuable than industrial, which is much more valuable than agricultural, which is more valuable than mining lands)