General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you support Universal Basic Income? [View all]meadowlander
(4,411 posts)that is just never going to create the kinds of jobs that some people can only get. And it's pointless to continue with "make work" jobs that no one actually needs or to throw people into abject poverty because they can't find work.
Not everyone is cut out to be a computer programmer or electrical engineer or doctor or architect or novelist or movie star or professional athlete. Machines will be replacing most manual labour and service jobs and quite a few white collar jobs over the next 20-30 years.
So rather than raise the minimum wage on non-essential and soon to be obsolete jobs, why not recognise that everyone has a right to basic dignity in their life and that a civilised society will provide that for people regardless of whether there happens to be the right proportion of low skills jobs and low skills workers.
It's well within the means of the US to provide housing, a college level education and health care for everyone. There's always money for wars and tax breaks and bank bail-outs and corporate welfare. Enough already.
I think UBI should cover the equivalent of 20 hours a week at minimum wage. And we should move to a standard 20 hour work week for everyone with the option to work longer hours if you want to. That way lots of companies will be hiring as much as twice as many people, people will have more time to spend with their kids or pursue their own interests, and everyone will have a baseline level of support.