UBI is one of the more polarizing ideas I talk about in conversation with people. What do you think about UBI? If you’re against the idea — why? And, how do you see UBI, and to a broader degree, poverty and our modern day structures of indentured servitude, in relation to the cascading ecological crises we face?
I support UBI for many of the reasons stated in the post. I wonder if you've come across another argument in researching this topic: for myself and my family, UBI (and universal health care, to be honest) would greatly increase our capacity for innovation and risk taking. I'm an ecologist, recent PhD recipient, and have a 3 year old daughter. My husband is a creative designer-builder. We have a long list of innovative ideas we'd like to pursue and would like to commit to lifestyles that support a degrowth economy. But with limited family wealth or savings to invest in ideas, and child care going basically unrecognized as work, we feel that the risks may be too high. Where going without insurance can lead to a lifetime of debt and choosing not to prioritize a higher salary over one's value and ethics can mean losing meager financial stability, the potential costs of (sometimes) chance events are astronomical. So might UBI actually catalyze innovation (beyond typical entrepreneurship) across a diverse socioeconomic spectrum?
This is one of the most convincing arguments for UBI that I ascribe to, though it's one that hasn't been studied extensively (for a few reasons, I think). In my mind, UBI has the potential not just to resolve wide-scale poverty -- an immensely important mission in its own right -- but also to free the broader working class from the day-to-day constraints of the modern capitalist economy that prevent us from pursuing radical transition to a liveable future. Your example is great: highly educated and wanting to pursue lifestyles and "work" in radical and innovative (degrowth) ways that have the potential to transform how we live on Earth, and through that transformation, to protect humanity's very ability to continue surviving (let alone thriving) beyond the end of this century...but because of economic insecurity (in the US, confounded by a lack of public healthcare), you're unable. I don't know what you're doing for work post-PhD, but I know many people in a similar situation who aren't just unable to work in regenerative ways, but find themselves "forced" to actively work towards the destruction of Earth's life support systems (for oil and gas or whatever else) because of a feeling of economic insecurity. We live in an economic system that self-perpetuates through fear. UBI removes that fear.
Erik, this is a nice list and much more comprehensive than my hurried comment yesterday. The idea of a global UBI is interesting, and I wonder how that could be implemented with the degree of inequity among nations. Among the students I currently teach (environmental studies courses @ a selective private college), it seems like arguments encompassed by #1, 6, 10 seem logical to them, but they don't necessarily feel a personal connection. The pressure, even for those who may not feel aligned with the path, is to enter the corporate recruiting/med school/law school pipeline. That's made me curious about ways to make the issue more personal for them- this includes personal growth + creativity but also is directly connected to 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and finally, 15 (though most college students aren't thinking about this yet).
I haven't chosen to work in ways that directly support the destruction of Earth's support systems (though I know plenty who have felt they needed to for financial reasons) but also haven't found a way to do work that's aligned fully with my values. I never thought fear ruled me when I was younger, but now with a family to support, I have become acutely aware of how hard it is to find a way to sustain us that feels "secure enough" and also aligned w/ our values.
Re: funding on a global level -- I actually buried a link that has something to do with this in the introduction of the last issue. The UN has called for "temporary basic income" (in response to COVID) in 132 countries in the Global South and suggested it could be financed entirely using the costs of debt servicing that those countries face. The wealthy countries of the world collect $3.1 trillion a year in debt repayment (and interest) from what the UN calls "developing and emerging economies." That doesn't answer how we pay for it in the "developed" world -- but it does offer an idea for a major portion of the world's population. (https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/news/2020/Temporary_Basic_Income_to_protect_the_worlds_poorest_people_slow_COVID19.html)
I support UBI for many of the reasons stated in the post. I wonder if you've come across another argument in researching this topic: for myself and my family, UBI (and universal health care, to be honest) would greatly increase our capacity for innovation and risk taking. I'm an ecologist, recent PhD recipient, and have a 3 year old daughter. My husband is a creative designer-builder. We have a long list of innovative ideas we'd like to pursue and would like to commit to lifestyles that support a degrowth economy. But with limited family wealth or savings to invest in ideas, and child care going basically unrecognized as work, we feel that the risks may be too high. Where going without insurance can lead to a lifetime of debt and choosing not to prioritize a higher salary over one's value and ethics can mean losing meager financial stability, the potential costs of (sometimes) chance events are astronomical. So might UBI actually catalyze innovation (beyond typical entrepreneurship) across a diverse socioeconomic spectrum?
This is one of the most convincing arguments for UBI that I ascribe to, though it's one that hasn't been studied extensively (for a few reasons, I think). In my mind, UBI has the potential not just to resolve wide-scale poverty -- an immensely important mission in its own right -- but also to free the broader working class from the day-to-day constraints of the modern capitalist economy that prevent us from pursuing radical transition to a liveable future. Your example is great: highly educated and wanting to pursue lifestyles and "work" in radical and innovative (degrowth) ways that have the potential to transform how we live on Earth, and through that transformation, to protect humanity's very ability to continue surviving (let alone thriving) beyond the end of this century...but because of economic insecurity (in the US, confounded by a lack of public healthcare), you're unable. I don't know what you're doing for work post-PhD, but I know many people in a similar situation who aren't just unable to work in regenerative ways, but find themselves "forced" to actively work towards the destruction of Earth's life support systems (for oil and gas or whatever else) because of a feeling of economic insecurity. We live in an economic system that self-perpetuates through fear. UBI removes that fear.
Erik, this is a nice list and much more comprehensive than my hurried comment yesterday. The idea of a global UBI is interesting, and I wonder how that could be implemented with the degree of inequity among nations. Among the students I currently teach (environmental studies courses @ a selective private college), it seems like arguments encompassed by #1, 6, 10 seem logical to them, but they don't necessarily feel a personal connection. The pressure, even for those who may not feel aligned with the path, is to enter the corporate recruiting/med school/law school pipeline. That's made me curious about ways to make the issue more personal for them- this includes personal growth + creativity but also is directly connected to 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and finally, 15 (though most college students aren't thinking about this yet).
I haven't chosen to work in ways that directly support the destruction of Earth's support systems (though I know plenty who have felt they needed to for financial reasons) but also haven't found a way to do work that's aligned fully with my values. I never thought fear ruled me when I was younger, but now with a family to support, I have become acutely aware of how hard it is to find a way to sustain us that feels "secure enough" and also aligned w/ our values.
Re: funding on a global level -- I actually buried a link that has something to do with this in the introduction of the last issue. The UN has called for "temporary basic income" (in response to COVID) in 132 countries in the Global South and suggested it could be financed entirely using the costs of debt servicing that those countries face. The wealthy countries of the world collect $3.1 trillion a year in debt repayment (and interest) from what the UN calls "developing and emerging economies." That doesn't answer how we pay for it in the "developed" world -- but it does offer an idea for a major portion of the world's population. (https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/news-centre/news/2020/Temporary_Basic_Income_to_protect_the_worlds_poorest_people_slow_COVID19.html)
Thanks for pulling up this link. I wish the will existed to implement this tomorrow.