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Thread: Are Universal Basic Incomes 'A Tool For Our Further Enslavement'?

  1. #1

    Are Universal Basic Incomes 'A Tool For Our Further Enslavement'?

    https://yro.slashdot.org/story/18/10...er-enslavement

    Douglas Rushkoff, long-time open source advocate (and currently a professor of Digital Economics at the City University of New York, Queens College), is calling Universal Basic Incomes "no gift to the masses, but a tool for our further enslavement."

    Uber's business plan, like that of so many other digital unicorns, is based on extracting all the value from the markets it enters. This ultimately means squeezing employees, customers, and suppliers alike in the name of continued growth. When people eventually become too poor to continue working as drivers or paying for rides, UBI supplies the required cash infusion for the business to keep operating. When it's looked at the way a software developer would, it's clear that UBI is really little more than a patch to a program that's fundamentally flawed. The real purpose of digital capitalism is to extract value from the economy and deliver it to those at the top. If consumers find a way to retain some of that value for themselves, the thinking goes, you're doing something wrong or "leaving money on the table."

    Walmart perfected the softer version of this model in the 20th century. Move into a town, undercut the local merchants by selling items below cost, and put everyone else out of business. Then, as sole retailer and sole employer, set the prices and wages you want. So what if your workers have to go on welfare and food stamps. Now, digital companies are accomplishing the same thing, only faster and more completely.... Soon, consumers simply can't consume enough to keep the revenues flowing in. Even the prospect of stockpiling everyone's data, like Facebook or Google do, begins to lose its allure if none of the people behind the data have any money to spend. To the rescue comes UBI.

    The policy was once thought of as a way of taking extreme poverty off the table. In this new incarnation, however, it merely serves as a way to keep the wealthiest people (and their loyal vassals, the software developers) entrenched at the very top of the economic operating system. Because of course, the cash doled out to citizens by the government will inevitably flow to them.... Under the guise of compassion, UBI really just turns us from stakeholders or even citizens to mere consumers. Once the ability to create or exchange value is stripped from us, all we can do with every consumptive act is deliver more power to people who can finally, without any exaggeration, be called our corporate overlords... if Silicon Valley's UBI fans really wanted to repair the economic operating system, they should be looking not to universal basic income but universal basic assets, first proposed by Institute for the Future's Marina Gorbis... As appealing as it may sound, UBI is nothing more than a way for corporations to increase their power over us, all under the pretense of putting us on the payroll. It's the candy that a creep offers a kid to get into the car or the raise a sleazy employer gives a staff member who they've sexually harassed. It's hush money.

    Rushkoff's conclusion? "Whether its proponents are cynical or simply naive, UBI is not the patch we need."
    1776 > 1984

    The FAILURE of the United States Government to operate and maintain an
    Honest Money System , which frees the ordinary man from the clutches of the money manipulators, is the single largest contributing factor to the World's current Economic Crisis.

    The Elimination of Privacy is the Architecture of Genocide

    Belief, Money, and Violence are the three ways all people are controlled

    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Our central bank is not privately owned.



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  3. #2
    UBI is welfare on steroids.

  4. #3
    Shouldn't even be phrased as a question.

    Universal Basic Incomes are 'A Tool For Our Further Enslavement'.

  5. #4
    If being paid to sit on my couch and watch TV is "enslavement" then sign me up
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by TheTexan View Post
    If being paid to sit on my couch and watch TV is "enslavement" then sign me up
    Is beer included?
    "The Patriarch"

  7. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by TheTexan View Post
    If being paid to sit on my couch and watch TV is "enslavement" then sign me up
    Would you still sign up if they didn't let you out of the house and supplied enough food for you to get fat and die of heart disease?

    This could be one of their ideas for population control.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    Is beer included?
    Good point. That might be a deal-breaker.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dr.3D View Post
    Would you still sign up if they didn't let you out of the house and supplied enough food for you to get fat and die of heart disease?

    Sounds good but only if my cable TV has all the sports packages
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Anti Federalist View Post
    Shouldn't even be phrased as a question.

    Universal Basic Incomes are 'A Tool For Our Further Enslavement'.
    At least it shows people are smart enough to think about it. Barely smart enough but asking questions none the less.
    1776 > 1984

    The FAILURE of the United States Government to operate and maintain an
    Honest Money System , which frees the ordinary man from the clutches of the money manipulators, is the single largest contributing factor to the World's current Economic Crisis.

    The Elimination of Privacy is the Architecture of Genocide

    Belief, Money, and Violence are the three ways all people are controlled

    Quote Originally Posted by Zippyjuan View Post
    Our central bank is not privately owned.



  10. Remove this section of ads by registering.


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