Universal Basic Income

by M. Radh Achuthan
Peconic Bay Meeting

When businesses contract or close, their employees experience occupational loss. This is happening more frequently during COVID-19. In addition, employees suffer occupational loss when businesses shift to automation.

The financial implications of the above can be remedied through transition to a Universal Basic Income, UBI. A regionalized global UBI under capitalism would nurture liberal education and small businesses. The approach circumvents the historic ‘Robin Hood’ aspiration of resolving inequities within societies by transferring funds from the rich to the poor.

One could strive for UBI in the US within the next 8 years, negotiating in the interim with different viewpoints and implementing it step by step. Similar campaigns elsewhere in the world could foster UBI there, circumventing starvation for the global poor.

Visit this webpage to learn more about UBI and, if willing, sign the petition: diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/universal-basic-income-5 

The first video on that page addresses increased automation and why humans “need not apply” for some jobs. The subsequent two videos inform us how a Universal Basic Income, supportive of small-businesses, could be implemented in a capitalistic economic environment.