As technology grows, more and more work disappears. Robert Reich says in his new video:
The question for the future is how best to provide economic security for all?
Reich points to the fact that, according to some, almost half of the U.S. jobs available now will be automated by 2036.
This isn’t necessarily bad. The economy we’re heading toward could offer millions of people more free time to do what they want to do instead of what they have to do to earn a living.
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One answer: A universal basic income – possibly financed out of the profits going to such labor replacing innovations, or perhaps even a revenue stream off of the underlying intellectual property.
One of the arguments for the basic income is that it can get both support from Republicans and Democrats. The idea has had support from all fields for many decades, from Richard Nixon to Martin Luther King, Jr. This isn’t Robert Reich’s first time talking about universal basic income. He’s said that he feels universal basic income is probably inevitable in the United States.
Reich points to the resurgence in global conversations around basic incomes. Places like Finland are experimenting with basic income plans and Switzerland even had enough discussion to vote on the idea a few months back. Something will have to give. I honestly have a hard time wrapping my mind around the viability of a universal basic income plan in a country the size of the United States, but I am also open to the idea.
Let’s discuss!