Doing the Minimum | No Mercy / No Malice

Obviously, we need to make sure that people are well-compensated for their labor, that they’re able to put food on the table, a roof over their heads, an education in their brains, and that they can pay their medical bills without fear of bankruptcy.But a person’s labor can’t grow exponentially, it can’t possibly keep up with exponential growth, so... See more

As for boosting growth, my number one recommendation would be much more high-skilled immigration. And then more low-skilled immigration to take care of their kids and help run their errands... I also would deregulate most of the American economy, starting with occupational licensing. I would however keep air pollution and climate change regulations... See more

Even better, forget the $300 number and mandate that it has to increase at a rate pegged to GDP growth. Maybe fix the start date at 2020, and then in year X, one third of the difference between year X GDP and 2020 GDP must be given out as basic income. In theory you should be able to get a UBI of $10,000 per person in a few decades without making a... See more

The fact that many American companies are paying paltry wages to workers while lavishing cash on top executives and investors is no happenstance. It's a policy choice. In the United States we have a tax and regulatory environment that rewards that behavior. We can decide to maintain the status quo or change it.

The inability to rise, or even to maintain middle-class status, has sparked calls for a universal basic income, a policy embraced by many in the clerisy and throughout the oligarchy. A universal basic income would stand as what Karl Marx called “the proletarian alms bag,” keeping the masses from destitution without assisting them to move up, start ... See more

This fact is even more striking when we consider that the cost of eradicating poverty in any developed country is around 1 percent of GDP. An individual unemployment benefit set at the poverty line (around $1,200 a month) and granted to all jobless individuals regardless of their place in the family structure would not only pull everyone out of pov... See more