Assassination Of An Idea

I've just watched a news-program on universal basic income by the Wall Street Journal. And I'm triggered. This so called newspaper manages to kill the whole idea in just ten minutes. If UBI was Luke Skywalker, we'd call this "character assassination"; WSJ did a Last Jedi on UBI.

_{Image by PublicDomainPictures - source: Pixabay}

In The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker didn't just die; his character, as we've intimately come to know during four previous movies, was thoroughly assassinated. Luke was unrecognizable in that abortion of a film and even acted contrary to his nature; his character was sacrificed to lift up the new generation of Mary Sue Rey. The Wall Street Journal manages to kill the idea of a universal basic income (UBI), as well as Disney manages to kill the idea of Luke Skywalker. Someone online remarked about The Last Jedi: "How to completely destroy a franchise without looking like you did it on purpose." This applies to the reporting of the WSJ on UBI as well.

Some people just refuse to see capitalism for what it is, that's why I keep bringing up it's fundamentals. Some people forget that the scarcity principle not only applies to products, resources and commodities; it applies to the job market too. Back to the basics: sand is everywhere (especially on Tatooine ;-)) and easy to get, so it costs nothing, while diamonds are few and hard to get, so they cost more than I can afford. Likewise, for easy jobs, workers are available everywhere, so they pay little, while for complicated jobs it's hard to find a qualified person to do it, so they pay more. Therefore, for jobs to pay anything at all, some scarcity in workers is necessary. Necessary, I'll repeat that, so you understand that unemployment is MANDATORY in capitalism, full employment is but a fantasy. I prefer Star Wars for my dose of that, but the WSJ sees it fit to bring their share of fantasy to the table as well.

The whole idea of a universal basic income is to separate the right to live from having a paying job. It's finally admitting that EVERYONE has a right to exist. It's to take away existential fears so minds can be free to do something useful instead of worrying about next month's rent. And the biggest thing it'll do in my opinion is that it will fundamentally change the reason why people work. The reality is that no one should have to work for a living; it's an affront to our technological capabilities and our scientific progression to still have hunger in the world and to still have to work to earn some right to exist. I'll link the ten minute WSJ video below, but they manage to miss all of this. Instead the reporter is worried if people who get "money for free" (yep, that's how he chooses to call it) will use it to better themselves, meaning if they would do everything possible to get a job, to become "independent" again...

No sir, the single mother needs to raise her daughter so she can become a good human and a good addition to society. No sir, it's not that the painter who only makes 200 dollar per year isn't serious about his painting; it's just that the market doesn't value his creativity. And no sir, showing a puppeteer who says he's going to use the money to make more puppets isn't funny and doesn't diminish the idea of a UBI in the slightest, even if you wish it would.

_{Basic Income: The Free Money Experiments | Moving Upstream}

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