The world knows we are in crisis. This isn't news to anyone.
For some years now, I have seen stories about rich people establishing bunkers in New Zealand as if they imagine they can survive and escape the chaos after their bad policies run the world into the ground and I have seen UBI proposed as The Solution to the problem.
I'm quite convinced that UBI will 'solve' our problems about as well as student loans 'solved' our problems in the US. Hint: They didn't.
Instead, they left a generation deeply in debt, overeducated for the jobs available and living in their parent's basement -- IF they were lucky to have such resources -- and putting off marriage, homeownership and children indefinitely.
"Free" money for poor people doesn't solve squat. They don't stop being poor and inflation erodes the value of it etc.
What we need is a minimum viable lifestyle available to people who are just starting out or currently down on their luck or in transition.
We used to provide this as a default. It used to be the norm rent a room somewhere and be able to live cheap while going to college or dicking around trying to get some life experience and decide how you wished to live.
But since World War 2, we have torn down about a million SROs and have come to see such as transitional housing for homeless people. Cheap rentals of that sort used to be market rate normal housing for unmarried individuals, young childless couples, students and seniors.
It also used to be more feasible to live without a car. Walkable mixed-use neighborhoods, better support for cyclists and better public transit would help make it feasible to live without a car.
If you can rent a room for cheap and live without a car while working a minimum wage job or working part-time at something that pays a little better than that, then you can have real control over your life without rich. This would go a long ways towards resolving a lot of our current economic issues.
For some years now, I have seen stories about rich people establishing bunkers in New Zealand as if they imagine they can survive and escape the chaos after their bad policies run the world into the ground and I have seen UBI proposed as The Solution to the problem.
I'm quite convinced that UBI will 'solve' our problems about as well as student loans 'solved' our problems in the US. Hint: They didn't.
Instead, they left a generation deeply in debt, overeducated for the jobs available and living in their parent's basement -- IF they were lucky to have such resources -- and putting off marriage, homeownership and children indefinitely.
"Free" money for poor people doesn't solve squat. They don't stop being poor and inflation erodes the value of it etc.
What we need is a minimum viable lifestyle available to people who are just starting out or currently down on their luck or in transition.
We used to provide this as a default. It used to be the norm rent a room somewhere and be able to live cheap while going to college or dicking around trying to get some life experience and decide how you wished to live.
But since World War 2, we have torn down about a million SROs and have come to see such as transitional housing for homeless people. Cheap rentals of that sort used to be market rate normal housing for unmarried individuals, young childless couples, students and seniors.
It also used to be more feasible to live without a car. Walkable mixed-use neighborhoods, better support for cyclists and better public transit would help make it feasible to live without a car.
If you can rent a room for cheap and live without a car while working a minimum wage job or working part-time at something that pays a little better than that, then you can have real control over your life without rich. This would go a long ways towards resolving a lot of our current economic issues.