Why Universal Basic Income Is What the World Needs and Why You Should Want It Too
Society will benefit from a universally free, untaxed income.
When I heard about the universal basic income, which I would refer to as “UBI” from now on, I was a bit skeptical, to say the least.
The thought of the government giving everyone in the country or state free and stable money to lift them out of poverty seemed impossible to me. But what if it wasn’t?
If it wasn’t, it would mean about $1,000 dollars per citizen in the United States per month or $12,000 per year.
Sure, it may not be enough to afford everything we want, but it will definitely reduce the poverty rate in the country to a fine degree. It almost sounds too good to be true.
If something is too good to be true, chances are it just might be... So, let’s delve a little deeper.
Say one day, humanity actually figured out a way to provide a basic income for everybody on the planet. What would happen to the workforce?
Would people stop working altogether? Or would they become more comfortable and productive in their jobs because they know they’ll survive even if they get fired?
In my opinion, the latter is more likely to happen.
Think about it. The UBI isn’t a full-time income.
It can’t afford all your wants in life. All it takes care of are the things you need like food and shelter.
The thing is, people have wants (duh). And as long as the UBI isn’t providing them with at least 40 grand per year, they’ll still show up to work because that makes them lower class (money wise).
The UBI will just become some sort of supplementary addition to their income.
I have a friend WHO can afford to not work for a year (good for him). I certainly can’t, though. I asked him why he never just takes year-long breaks or vacations. He told me that it gets boring after a few months.
When UBI gets introduced newly, I believe a lot of people will immediately quit their jobs. But will come back a couple of months after the rest.
Just sitting at home all day will get very old very fast. At some point, they’ll remember they can’t stay away from the need to do something productive and worthwhile.
Automation would force UBI at some point. If the thought of machines taking over your job doesn’t scare you, you’re a lot stronger than me. It terrifies me!
By 2030, 300 million full-time jobs could be replaced by automation. That’s 300 million jobs taken away. That’s 300 million people more or less left unemployed.
With the rate at which technology is rising, this is barely surprising.
I had a talk with my mom’s friend recently. She isn’t really too familiar with the way the world works today. She is a bit old school, and I really love that about her.
I asked her if she thought a robot could replace her job. She said NO! She went on to say that when job execution lacks a human touch, it feels dry. I agree with her.
But then again, she is old school (bless her heart).
Sure, without human touch, job execution will become soulless. But with a robot that can do more or less what you do and do it with mind-numbing speed, not needing sleep or rest, costs very little, I think companies will likely sacrifice the human touch to get their hands on those benefits.
Outside of my writing hobby, I’m a professional digital artist. I feel extremely threatened by automation. Especially because some of the audience I’m reaching accuse my work of being fully automated!
I paint entirely by hand, and each finished piece takes me hours of hard work to complete. Doing all that and competing with automation gets very exhausting.
In a couple of decades, there’s a good chance automation will take over a lot of industries, leaving an enormous trail of unemployment in its wake.
Automation at that point will make UBI or, at the very least, some form of it, too important to ignore.
I strongly believe universal basic income will help the mental health of many. Let me explain why.
Studies have shown that an increase in income security significantly improves mental health.
Even without the knowledge of that study, I, for one, will feel so much better and less depressed if I could get an extra untaxed $1000 per month — or anywhere near that amount, honestly.
As a digital artist, most of my income comes from art commissions. People basically pay me to illustrate things for them. To maintain my current lifestyle, I’m compelled to take approximately 35 commissions per month.
That’s a lot! It gets very stressful. Talk about burnout fuel.
If I could have some sort of guarantee that I would be getting 1 grand per month, every month, I would be able to reduce the number of commissions I take on.
This will do wonders for my mental well-being. It could do wonders for yours, too. Do you disagree?
For people already in a job they don’t like, this will make it super easy to weasel out. The security that the UBI brings will allow them to take fewer working hours and use the extra time to find something else they’ll love.
I just checked, and what I found out was that countries and regions that were the most income-deprived were 52% more likely to commit crime. This study was done for the year 2022
That’s really a staggering number.
Now reason with me here, if income or money is one of the root causes of crime, wouldn’t it make more sense to reduce poverty?
In my opinion, I believe the UBI will be a very effective way to do so. If everyone in the country or state is raised above poverty levels, the crime rate should go down.
I am really trying to find the dark side of UBI, and I gotta tell you, I can’t find any that is worth mentioning.
Sunlight acts as the external stimulus that makes plants grow. UBI, in the same regard, could just be the sunlight for the economy.
When everybody has a basic income to spend on their needs, it will lead to an increase in consumer spending.
This will, in turn, help a lot of local businesses and the entire economy overall.
When people can financially contribute to society, they feel invested in its growth.
Not only will it increase the economy of the country, but I believe UBI will increase overall patriotism because people will believe the country has their best interests at heart.
If the concept of UBI is able to come to fruition, I will be up for it for sure! The world has been trying to battle poverty for some time now. UBI should be considered our top-secret weapon for winning the war on poverty.
I’m even looking deeper into the future a little bit…
What if they don’t stop at basic income? What if they give other amenities too like basic clothing, housing, healthcare, recreational activities, and more? The catch in a situation like this would mean that you wouldn’t be allowed to make a profit from your work.
You would have to work just for the fun of it without expecting anything in return. An interesting catch, to say the least.
Would that be something you would be interested in? Or do you believe it would be more restricting? Just food for thought.
