My Very Important Open Letter To Elon Musk - I'd Like to Steal Your Idea

penston (55) in mmt • 7 years ago (edited)

(I once wrote an open letter to Russell Brand about why he shouldn't advocate against voting in political elections. I can't say for certain that he read it, but he's changed his opinion since then, so maybe there's some other cosmic force that makes my open letters work. Let's find out.)

Penston to Musk, Penston to Musk, come iiiiinnn Musk,

I know you're busy turning us into an interplanetary species at the moment, but I'd like to go back to talking about becoming an interdependent species, the way you did when you were advocating for a universal basic income.

There's an idea of yours that I want to steal. It's the idea that is at the core of Tesla. It hasn't been patented, so if any IP lawyers are reading this, you can stop slobbering over the potential for litigation!

You came to Australia in 2017 and had Tesla build the largest battery array in the World. I've heard that it's already proven to be very useful, so hopefully we'll be able to get some more. Doesn't it make soooo much sense to store electricity so that it's ready to use when needed rather than allowing it to go to waste?

Carjacking A Tesla Idea

I think so, and that's the idea that I want to steal from you. But instead of using it to solve problems around electricity, I want to use it to solve the problem of unemployment.

You see, labour is like electricity. We have a lot of the stuff and it's very useful for businesses, but not everyone has the money or ability to use all of what's there. That's what unemployment is - it's either labour that businesses haven't bought or it hasn't been put to use by someone else.

It makes even less sense to waste labour than it does to waste electricity because the costs of not using it go beyond mere economic concerns. Unemployment can affect the well-being of individuals, their families and their communities.

A Tesla For Employment

What we need is storage for labour. Something that keeps it ready for use whenever businesses have the money to pay for it. We need a Tesla for employment.

We used to have a kind of battery array for jobs here in Australia from the mid 1940's until the mid 1970's. The government used to provide jobs for anyone who wanted them. It stopped because economists thought that they were causing inflation, when in fact it was the October '73 Oil Crisis that was responsible.

Australia can afford to give everyone a universal basic income of around $3-3.5K without having to increase taxes. However, I think it would be a lot better for our society as a whole if we were to create jobs that pay ten times as much.

The Best of Times

Why only ten times? Because that's the amount we can afford today without having to increase taxes and without competing against the private sector (i.e. don't have minimum wage workers quit their jobs to take these ones). It seems like a pretty good deal, and I'm positive (or negatively charged? - am I forcing the electricity theme too much?) that you'll agree, especially as the whole thing was really your idea in the first place.

The work that Tesla is doing to help break our dependence on oil should mean there'll be no more oil crises, so I expect that we can make this last for more than 30 years. This 'job battery' idea is more aligned with Tesla's work than UBI is, so I hope you'll become an advocate.

It Can Be Done

This would work in Australia, the US, the UK, Canada... even in New Zealand! We can end involuntary unemployment by storing labour in public sector jobs until the private sector is ready and able to use it. If you want to know the mechanics of how it can be done without the need for additional taxes, I've already made a video to explain that (you can ignore the part where I say that it was actually someone else's idea).

I don't have your e-mail address and you don't have mine, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to leave a comment below.

P.S.

I don't use Twitter a great deal (I don't really identify myself as much of a twit), but but I did catch this tweet that Chris Cook sent to you which said:

Stop selling your cars for profit & supply them as a service on a shared surplus basis ie use energy economics not dollar economics

We can have a chat about that too, or you can just click 'Follow' and more important messages will appear in your feed as I write them.

mmt elonmusk jobguarantee ubivsjg economics

7 years ago by penston (55)

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jamesford (52) · 7 years ago

Whoa whoa, i think you have overlooked a few key components that would provide answers to problems you arent seeing.

I can develop battery operated multi functional device/appliance electric generators to create per person local source located power points within a home. No more electric bill
2 host a class/school in which an individual can learn how to build, operate and maintain a personal vehicle and become a self sufficent traveler drastically reducing the cost of production while creating the ability for custom unique vehicles for geographical specific and or all terrain vehicle or craft.
3i have the equation for AI

Lets all get together and make something better because im not a fan of how things are and i know how we can fix it.

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

What ideas do you have for translating this into a method for ending involuntary unemployment?

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jamesford (52) · 7 years ago

Basically becoming self sufficent on a large scale leads rise to opportunity for coloaboration vs comand when pursuing a goal in what we call work

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catweasel (56) · 7 years ago

UBI, UBW, NIT, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

In the short term I like your idea, but in the long haul I don't think it's necessary. Once we as a global society get over the idea that everyone needs a job rather than an income we can eliminate most of the crap jobs. Do you think Walmart greeters WANT to be Walmart greeters?

If we all have a basic income that keeps us a little above the poverty line then there are two reasons for us to seek employment, both voluntary.

If you have a hankering to own and drive a Caddilac UBI will never be enough. There are plenty of jobs that still need the human touch which could help you fulfil your dream. "You want fries with that?"

If you have a particular skill and a love of that skill then you may want a specific job. A first-rate mechanic could do worse than NASCAR or F1 pit crew.

On the other hand, maybe you don't need a job but a pastime. Writing open letters to Elon Musk for a few bucks might suit you. Alternatively, you might make jewellery and sell it on eBay.

Of course, if all you want to do is watch daytime tv and eat bonbons, you may. Anything that works for you and doesn't adversely affect anyone else works for me.

I hope you can see what I'm getting at here. You should not need a job. Nobody NEEDS a job.

Okay, enough rant for now. You may all go back to your regularly scheduled program.

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

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jamesford (52) · 7 years ago

Haha yeah for sure, the job we should be focused on right now is reducing the cost to exists, ie self sufficient homes, access to food and water, things of that nature. If you were not endebted to a bottomless pit we call bills then the time you would be working to earn enough money to pay for the electricity or car you cant use while at work, just to come home and dpend a few hours before bed just to repeat the cycle, we all would have more time to be creative and productive. Coloaborate and advance. As it is now, most dont earn enough money to contribute anything of value to anyone but themselves, subjectively.

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

I’ve been unemployed before and I needed a job. Not just for money or self esteem, but to keep my work visa.

I like the idea of being liberated by automation, but that will only work if the technology isn’t owned by rent seekers - otherwise, we’ll become enslaved to them.

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catweasel (56) · 7 years ago

Another outdated idea that will take time to die: borders.

If Mexicans or Guatemalans, say, could live comfortably at home there would be less compulsion to move to the USA. They might, of course, want to come here to be with relatives, or their relatives might go see them. No more coyotes, and the bus services would do better.

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

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awakentolife (60) · 7 years ago

What an amazingly written text, my friend. You really put a good thought into this letter. And, I agree with you. Leaving people without ways to earn a living is one of the biggest problems in the world we have today.

Even though your idea of universal income is amazing and platonic, but in reality, the elite does not want that in any shape, or form. They don't want people happy and worry-free. They want slaves to work for them. If the today's politicians really wanted to solve worlds problems they would do in a day.

But, unfortunately, that is not the case. Greed is the world number one problem today. Most have some or very little, and some can't get enough no matter how much they have. That is the world's number one problem.

Great post, enjoyed reading it, have an amazing day. :)

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fknmayhem (70) · 7 years ago (edited)

The West Coast tech elite, especially California, are big fans and promoters of UBW. They are fully aware of what the upcoming Singularity may cause and they’re already protecting themselves by now propagating UBW.

Protecting themselves from being called the big mean oligarchy mostly. Obviously, as 1 percenters, they prefer to keep the gap big. UBW will help with that.

Addendum: Elon Musk on Universal Base Wage: It’s going to be necessary

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drishitmitra (37) · 7 years ago

Great idea. If you don't mind, I can try tagging him in a tweet and give a link to this post.

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

Do it! Create a buzz.

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drishitmitra (37) · 7 years ago

Done :)

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abbak7 (68) · 7 years ago

Great idea, but hard to implement! Still, I wish you luck!!

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

What do you see as the main obstacles?

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mountainwashere (65) · 7 years ago

I'm all for public sector jobs! They did wonders in contributing to the end of the Great Depression in the United States.

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

Absolutely correct! The US only did it on a very short-term basis, but they would have been better off keeping it as a long-term program, as other countries did.

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hafez (0) · 7 years ago (edited)

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

The actual implementation would be very easy, as history has shown us. The problem is getting politicians to want this win button. I think that says a lot about the quality of people who are in politics these days.

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clicketyclick (45) · 7 years ago

Aaaa... methinks we can burn many a packet of candles on this subject here @penston!

If I understand correctly, MMT reasons in terms of the existing monetary system - that old goat driving the centrally controlled debt based model with its familiar ailments.

I Like the UBI concept. But please don't get me wrong here: centrally controlled (totalitarian, if you wish) socialism, no matter where, in any way shape or form, is born with maggots eating at its flesh. Why? Because the human psyche is by nature not capable of withstanding the temptations it inherently offers.

A UBI, seen apart from the socialist context within which one automatically tends to visualize it by traditional thinking, offers a host of social and economic benefits, many of which spring from the fact that UBI injects purchasing power directly into the hands of the consumer, thus enabling the most basic mechanism in all economies, namely the driving force between supply and demand, to function at grass roots level - right where it should.

And blockchain technology offers us a means by which to implement UBI in a decentralized manner, thus achieving something very desirable without risking the pitfalls of socialism.

I have given it a lot of thought and there are ways in which decentralized UBI can be achieved by means of a fairly simple implementation of existing software. I won't go into detail here, firstly because it would be both rude and inconvenient to do so in a comment on your post and secondly because it is 2 AM where I am and I have some serious catch up to do in dreamland!

Thank you very much for putting the subject on the table!

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas for a decentralised UBI. In particular, I’d like to see how you get around the problem of systemic inequality growth.

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clicketyclick (45) · 7 years ago

If I read you right: I think wealth accumulating around the most successful is a natural phenomenon which is good for as long as the wealthy have and live out fair empathy with respect to the remainder of the population.

A simple UBI issuing paradigm, with a task of nothing more than issuing purchasing power in an evenly distributed manner at a personal level can at best compromise systemic inequality. The degree to which this compromise can have effect should depend of the magnitude of the purchasing power.

A too small UBI will have little effect on the current distribution and relative growth of wealth and power. A too large UBI might induce a counter-pruductive lazy attitude in too many. Giving a little more purchasing power to each individual than for basic essentials will enable entrepreneurial growth, thus beginning to shift the power balance.

One can calculate the cost of survival in terms of units of energy. By then issuing purchasing power by issuing tokens, each with a purchasing power for a unit of energy, one can obtain a currency with a value that is fairly constant relative to the cost of survival. This also implies that the number of tokens issued (say per week) can be constant.

Where purchasing power is applied determines where profit is taken and hence where wealth accumulates. So if the magnitude of UBI can be such that it allows production and trade at a grass roots level it may generate growth of wealth at that level. What one does with the means at one's disposal however remains one's own responsibility.

Did this answer your question?

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penston (55) · 7 years ago

It didn't really address the inequality growth problem. Historically, when everyone suddenly has more money to spend, economic rents suddenly increase. It's not hard to imagine how the UBI money would inevitably flow to monopolies (even small monopolies, such as a landlord who rents out a single apartment) so that they're the only ones who ultimately benefit. So, not only would the intended effect of the UBI not happen, but it would accelerate inequality growth.

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clicketyclick (45) · 7 years ago (edited)

Inequality will forever be with us, from it's genetic roots up.

Gross inequality grows because the poor are always at the short end of the stick. The only remedy I see for that is to relieve the poor (especially those incapable of self sufficiency or incapable of being productive at all) at least partially of that disadvantage by giving them at least sufficient lasting purchasing power to survive on. Barter economies etc work for the productive sector of the population - what about the rest?

Resolving the problem of sociopathic exploitation of this remedy may require a different strategy...?

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penston (55) · 7 years ago (edited)

I agree that inequality will always exist, but I think that inequality growth has been institutionalised and we need to change that. The system is like a vacuum cleaner, sucking money from the poor and delivering it to those who control the machine. If you give more spending power to the poor, it'll get sucked up, too.

The things is that the vacuum cleaner doesn't belong to the few. It belongs to everyone. Make the people who control it pay rent to the rest of us if they want to use it and pretty soon they may see that it's pointless to use it.

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clicketyclick (45) · 7 years ago

I agree that the problem is systemic and that it is systemic because of human nature. The vacuum cleaner in effect belongs to those who control it - they have taken control of it. Humans are selfish by nature and those in control won't simply hand over control to those without the power to convince them to do so. An independent means needs to be applied to empower the powerless.