Richard Branson is one of the richest men in the world. He is also one of the pioneers in a number of technologies that could destroy a great deal of jobs. With his investments in lab-grown meats along with autonomous cars, he has an inside view on the potential of these technologies.
Whether that viewpoint led him to the conclusion he has or not, it is clear where he stands on basic income.
“A basic income should be introduced in Europe and in America,” Branson told David Gelles of The New York Times.
Even if the jobs are not destroyed, Branson foresees a shorter workweek for people.
“I think AI will result in there being less hours in the day that people are going to need to work,” Branson said. “You know, three-day workweeks and four-day weekends. Then we’re going to need companies trying to entertain people during those four days, and help people make sure that they’re paid a decent amount of money for much shorter work time.”
This is the sector we saw the re-emergence of the basic income idea. A number of years ago, a few of the tech titans recognized where things were going with their creations and the effect it was going to have on people. Branson, along with Musk and Gates, were at the forefront of discussing this topic.
Branson also provides insight into his belief about humanity.
"The purpose of humanity is not just to sit behind a counter and sell things. More free time is not a terrible thing," he said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/02/virgin-groups-richard-branson-on-universal-basic-income.html
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The puritan work ethic is overrated. Especially if you don't have any connections, good luck, and you're not born rich. Even the rich bail each other out. Just ask Congress.
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This is the start of a communism system
Basic income will hurt not help a nation. Only the free market can stop this madness
More government hand outs will just end in disaster.
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Actually, the entire point of money is as a distributed means of signaling wants and needs such that we can make the best use of limited resources. Suppose that everyone gets 1000 currency tokens each month. Some might spend it on travel, some might save it for a bigger house, etc. You can still have a free market where the number of currency tokens exchanged for a service or good is based on a willing buyer and a willing seller. The Steem model of decreasing inflation, until a constant rate is reached can work as a basic income, because the cost of goods in Steem can vary over time. To see why a basic income does not preclude a free market (and in fact may be required in the future) imagine a (probably not too distant) future where one person owns all of the world's resources and all the production is done by robots, including other robots who fix the robots. At that point, there are no jobs and no one to buy the goods. Note that the single owner is also not needed, because the robots do everything. However, as Hayek and other economists noted, you still have limited resources, so you still need a way to decide what to do with those resources and how and where to distribute them. So everyone gets a basic income that they can use to send signals in a distributed manner to the robots in order to allow a kind of distributed hive robotic planning of how to use the resources.
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What would you define as government handouts?
Do you include the military in that? How about corporate handouts like subsidies for oil?
And how does the free market account for the hundreds of billions of dollars spend annually (In the US alone) on foundational research through the DOE and DOD? This is research that does not have any commercial value yet does move research forward. Without that research, most of the tech you are using today including the internet, mobile communications, satellite broadcasts, and most everything in a hospital would not exist.
Not saying you are necessarily wrong yet I have not come across a way the free market can answer these questions.
Do you see US corporations spending $400B-$500B annually on research that will net them nothing? And even if they did, are you ready for a slowdown in innovation? The fact that research is government funded means it is public. It also means said research is picked up by other people and used.
That is not the case with private research.
Look at the IPhone....do you really think Apple invented that? Look at the hundreds of billions spent over the years on research for voice recognition, batteries, displays, cellular transmissions, and processing?
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Also
Isn’t it funny the ultra rich billionaires are the ones pushing this ?
They can afford to avoid taxes through there foundations but they want middle class taxed to pay for this
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A minimum basic income does not have to come through taxes on the middle class or anyone. Governments and banks make money out of thin air all the time (look up fractional reserve lending). Crypto does it every day. See my earlier response to your assertion that this is the start of communism--it is not. It is a response to the reality that many people will simply be unable to do productive work due to massive automation. Or put another way, only a fraction of the human race will need to work to take care of the needs of all. This is a situation we have not been in yet and will still not be in for some time, but we are already seeing the beginnings of it. Check out Moshe Vardi's Humans, Machines, and Work: The Future is Now for a look at how automation has impacted our society recently and some projections for what it is about to do. Sadly, many political parties are fooling people into blaming immigrants and the poor instead of explaining and addressing the real causes of loss of wages and jobs.
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I definitely agree with a shorter work week, the current 5-6 days a week is just slavery in my opinion.
Nice post @mannacurrency!
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I dont think that is possible With this world economy and companies owned by private sectors. I will count what he said as a prayer
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I am a human being of Earth and I do not recognise any authority but my own.
The land belongs to all. I am of the land, a part of it, yet I belong to no one.
I am a free man, to come and go as I please upon the land.
This land of Earth belongs to all; there are no boundaries.
Those that place boundaries and seek to own the land are fools and delusional. Only madmen and thieves profess to own what is not theirs to own.
I oppose all those who would force me to obey laws made only to keep them in power over me.
There is only one king, one ruler, one God; all others are oppressors, despots and sociopaths.
I do so declare this to be the declaration of a free man on a free Earth.
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