Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income, also called UBI. 

Sounds nice, right? Everyone is paid enough for the necessities of life. 
But let’s look at this from all sides. Who decides what are the necessities of life? 

Without millionaires creating or financing the ideas stirring in someone's head, there would be few new inventions. 
Many things we consider necessities were unavailable to the pharaohs of Egypt that built the pyramids.

Most important, do people realize they will still have to work under Universal Basic Income? 

Vegetables don’t grow themselves and hamburgers don't flip themselves.
Busses don’t drive themselves. Bicycles don’t grow new tires like fingernails. 
Tampons don’t make themselves, neither does lipstick. 
Neither do schoolbooks or back packs or coffee or basketballs or guitars or bullhorns. 
And the feces and needles on the streets in sanctuary cities dosn't dispose of themselves.

So, how will we operate? 
If our nation is 90+% employed, then isn’t it logical that 90% of us must keep working, to keep production even with current consumption? 
Otherwise, some of what we now consider necessities will no longer be produced. Maybe shoes, maybe medicine or TVs. 

The alternative to a capitalized labor force, is forced labor. 
You see, Universal Basic Income opens the door to Universal Basic Work Assignments. 
Let me say it again:

Universal Basic Work Assignments. 

Can you imagine Universal Basic Workloads?  

If someone else is responsible for seeing our needs are met, someone else will also have the right to decide our place in 'the utopia-machine'. 
And as starving artists and political candidates know full-well, other people determine the value of our work.

I would then foresee people being place in jobs based on aptitude tests, IQ tests, or physical evaluations, or their relationship to leaders in the UBI government. 
The Pelosi, Biden, Clinton and Waters kids would get first shot at the good stuff, no matter your grades. 
UBI would not put everyone on equal footing. You’re unwise to believe that fantasy.  
You may be the one, who like these women in the painting, are out in the fields, picking up stray kernals of grain. 


But, Democratic leaderdship, facilitates fantasies, because they know the fantasies will harvest a certain number of votes for Democratic candidates.
Does that ever tire you? 

Eric J. Rose