Independent
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2006
- Messages
- 4,629
This is a nice summary. I've expressed opinions, but I can't resist using your structure here.Some interesting responses on here.
Points of disagreement seem to be:
1. Whether a lack of jobs will become an issue. Some believe yes and some believe new jobs will replace those (and possibly better jobs).
2. There seems to be a disagreement if "people in need" should get any government assistance. It appears people on here could fall into a couple different categories.
- i.) Zero tolerance. There is no need for me to get taxed to help someone else. People are lazy.
- ii.) There are people who need assistance, but our current and future systems get taken advantage of by lazy people who don't want to work.
- iii.) There are people who need assistance and we probably aren't doing it in the best way possible and there might be a better way to prevent this becoming a bigger issue down the road.
3. There seems to be disagreement on whether there is an issue of wealth becomes too concentrated among the top 1% or top 10%. I'm guessing most on this board are in the top 10-15% so financially most of us are in a solid spot. I guess my concern being in my 40's is how much joy will having a large amount of money be if 80-90% of the nation wants you gone.
1. I think there will always be some job. Machines aren't free, at some price, people can underbid machines. But, we do have a problem with wages. I think that much of the stagnation over the last 30 years has been international competition. We've lost lots of shoe making jobs. They didn't go to robots in the US. They went to low tech factories in China and Vietnam.
Whether it's robots or imports, we're going to have trouble with wages for those workers who aren't going to have exceptional technical skills.
2. Yes, "people in need" should get gov't assistance. There will always be a band where "need" is subjective. So we'll always have some cases that bother the taxpayers.
But, I don't see that UBI is better than making do with our current system. In theory, I like UBI. In practice, I've never seen a design I like. One problem is benefits for children. The bigger problem is the taxes to pay for it.
3. Extremes in wealth are a problem. Eventually, social cohesion fails. In 2019, the best approach is tax policy. There are some obvious things we can do. Maybe in the distant future, we'll get to the point where a UBI makes sense.