Posted: Dec 28, 2016 1:50 pm
I quite like the idea of an unconditional basic wage.
It seems to solve a lot of problems around what is a "fair" day's pay for a "fair" day's work. Take care of the basic needs of survival and you don't need to worry about minimum wage and shit. If you have workers negotiating on the basis of "Can I be fucked getting out of bed for that?" it strikes me as somewhat better than, "Oh fuck, I need a second job." It gives people the freedom to say, "You know what? Fuck you and your job."
The problem is, of course, the implementation.
Moving from a system where one's earnings are all one has to a system where one's earnings are a surplus over and above a basic unearned income is fraught with ... stuff.
One would expect, for example, every wage or salary to be cut by the amount of the UBW. One would also expect a greater tax burden to be placed on everyone's earnings (though hopefully mostly the rich) in order to pay for this stuff. That is, there would be a massive reduction in the amount of money aid out in wages, with a commensurate increase in monies extracted via tax.
It strikes me that we might end up with a system no better than the current one, just with a lot more government interference.
It seems to solve a lot of problems around what is a "fair" day's pay for a "fair" day's work. Take care of the basic needs of survival and you don't need to worry about minimum wage and shit. If you have workers negotiating on the basis of "Can I be fucked getting out of bed for that?" it strikes me as somewhat better than, "Oh fuck, I need a second job." It gives people the freedom to say, "You know what? Fuck you and your job."
The problem is, of course, the implementation.
Moving from a system where one's earnings are all one has to a system where one's earnings are a surplus over and above a basic unearned income is fraught with ... stuff.
One would expect, for example, every wage or salary to be cut by the amount of the UBW. One would also expect a greater tax burden to be placed on everyone's earnings (though hopefully mostly the rich) in order to pay for this stuff. That is, there would be a massive reduction in the amount of money aid out in wages, with a commensurate increase in monies extracted via tax.
It strikes me that we might end up with a system no better than the current one, just with a lot more government interference.