Quote:
Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy
Tough policy issue. As automation becomes more prevalent, there is more and more unemployed / unskilled labor and that will lead to more idle bodies fighting for jobs in a physical way. Technology will be the death of capitalism, turning the economy into a very small camp of Asset/Information owners, and the remaining looking for manual hourly labor. . . As that progresses, if taxes aren't raised on the Asset/Information owners, there will be no way to pay for UBI, Universal basic income, and the US will enter a debt spiral, from which there will be a lot of financial damage. A debt spiral is when you have to sell debt to pay for the interest on the prior debt because you don't have enough income, the downfall of the MMT proponents.
Someone recently said that we now have vibes from 476 AD now in the USA. .
I agree. .
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Technology always improves our standard of living. Some jobs are lost, but new jobs are created.
Minimum wage laws are always counter-productive to the people those laws are purportedly aiming to help. If $20 is "good", why isn't $25 better? Or $30?Employers aren't going to pay someone $20/hour to do something that is valued at $13. They will find a way to automate, consolidate, or eliminate. Otherwise, they go out of business. If McD raises its prices enough to cover the additional labor costs, less people will eat there. It's a death spiral.
UBI is nonsense. There is already UBI in the form of EBT, SNAP, section 8 housing, Obamacare subsidies, Medicaid, free chid care, free cell phones, nearly free broadband wifi.
link to a more complete list
I have read reports of people getting total govt transfers in the equivalent of more than $60,000 per year, income tax free.