RE: A Novel Take on Basic Income
We have a global economy so it would be a next step to have other global things. Like the universal basic income.
However, at this point, I have trouble understanding how this concept can be implemented. Let say we have a currency UBI, and the universal basic income is 10 UBIs. But that would imply that the cost of life is uniform throughout the globe, and that is far from true.
While 10 UBIs can mean expenses for a month in Venezuela, it might not buy you a sandwich in the USA.
The alternative to pay UBI based on a cost of life in the country of residence would not make things better from what they are now I believe.
Corporations paying for the UBI is also an utopia at this point. As you remarked, they will simply move jurisdiction. To a fiscal paradise?
Yes, this is why I think we have to stick with the national models, just like fiat is national, except for the EU. Money can still continue to transact in a global system, but the basic income would have to be provided at a national level. The only way I really see it working in my country is by shifting money from our outrageous military expenditures. Over half the country's huge budget goes to the military! And supposedly this is "peace time." I think it would have to be figured out country by country, because I don't think any other country wastes so much money like this.
Oh, how I wish this were true, because then the problem would be localized at one nation, and through international pressure, it would be eventually solved or ameliorated.
But I rather think the opposite is true: most governments became experts at wasting money (with a few exceptions maybe). Probably very few in the military field to this extent, but there are other ways to waste money, from feeding an oversized bureaucracy to some downright illegal.
The thing is, those other things can be harder to really get enough money out of. Even if you have a massive anti-corruption campaign that gets back a bunch of money to put toward the needs of the people, I doubt that would be enough to fund basic income for the whole country enough to really cover even just food and shelter. Only the people of a given country could figure out how to sustainably do it there.
But we could definitely do it here. We have the money. It just goes towards creating bombs , warplanes and other weapons that will never be used.
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Yes, I agree, when money go to a transparent budget, it is easier to lobby for or against it, or for an alternative.
There are of course non-transparent budgets (or not fully transparent), both in the military and in all sort of secret agencies, not even those who approve really know what are for. Those are harder to control, but it doesn't hurt to try.