Via Brand Gamblin.

This, to me, is the most compelling argument for basic income. Just as the existence of fundamental infrastructure lets a society flourish, so does the security of its citizens and the meeting of their basic needs. This is why the agricultural and industrial revolutions accelerated innovation and improved quality of life: the majority of people no longer had to spend the majority of their time simply producing enough for their own needs, and so there was a surplus which benefited everyone.

Pull quote:

“When the business community types come out and say it will be hard to find workers (labor) because no one will want to work it’s so thinly transparent that it makes me cringe. Because what they’re saying is — “My business needs cheap labor or I may go out of business”. My response — What about creative destruction? If you can’t handle a changing system maybe your business doesn’t provide a real enough value to survive. Do we need 400 different clothing brands? Let it burn. Maybe the system is propping you up.”

Low wages subsidise unviable businesses. I’d rather see viable businesses subsidising basic income, so that more viable businesses (and other socially useful things) can rise and flourish.

Originally shared by Anne-Marie Clark

If I were omnipotent, what I would give the world for Christmas… (lots of good graphs in this short read)

Universal Basic Income: The Maslow Argument

“This should be the real argument for Universal Basic Income. Getting everyone off the bottom two rungs so they can focus on being the best human they can be. If everyone is focused on being the best version of themselves, not just on surviving, they’ll build, connect, and create.”