( An Eighteen minute read)

You could describe the history of the world in four words ” Kill or be Killed”

If we were honest looking at the state of our planet to-day we would be forced to recognize that we humans have achieved little with what we call democracy or any other political system other than inequality.

Government by the people for the people and of the people is now with the arrival of AI daily becoming a farce.  There is no longer any need to justify or backup a statement or make a speech on a subject. As any constructive counter arguments are prejudiced with a Twit. We are living in a cult of smart Algorithms running our Smart Phones to ensure we only hear what we like in order to ensure our loyalty and profits.

As a result masses of the world population are excluded and marginalized: without work, without any opportunity or means of escaping other than migration.

While our world output is blundered by High Frequency Trading Algorithms on Wall street, and other World Stock exchanges for profit, with the continuing cost of environmental destruction, technology is creating a new structural inequality.

The United nations has poured millions into resolving poverty, wars, environmental protection, summits, it has achieve little other than passing resolutions that fall on deaf ears.

So I ask you, is it not time if we want a world worth living on that we change tack, too reach higher.

In a post-scarcity world why hold back wealth from people just because they can’t provide labor inputs just to create wealth, if we do not offer realistic alternatives, we legitimize the exclusion of the long-term unemployed from the society

At the moment due to the fear of AI replacing what we call work, on any day in New Zealand, 1 Million working aged people are not working, that is 40% of all
workers. In England, the non-workers are about 50%, in the USA the non-workers are 51%, in Spain with a much higher unemployment rate there would be more than 60% not working.

Can we now say that the system is broken?

Inequality in all its forms cannot be cured by Individual Countries, Organisations, Wars, or the begging bowel. Nor will Globalization, Free Trade deals, Nuclear weapons, Education, G8 to G10 summits, and their like have much effect.

But with technology there is an opportunity to take the parasite Greed, (profit for profit sake) that resides in all of us, head on.

While the discussion on the possible implications of the digital economy for labour continues unabated, there is only one way to achieve genuine progress and that is a Universal Basic Income for one and all.

Will a UBI bring more people back into meaningful employment?

Now I know that many will disagree with the following, but if we are to tackle the global gridlock, the world problems we must make Corporate Capitalism pay its fair share.

This share must be perpetual and distributed transparently fairly without any political votes, or repayment. It would distribute the fruits of technological advancement fairly.

The question is would it work: A Universal Basic Income.

Could such a policy be implemented not to mention be affordable?

It seems clear that at the technological level, new digital technologies and artificial intelligence makes implementation possible.

Where would the money come from?

By putting an International Wealth Tax or what I like to call  a 05% World Aid commission:

On all High Frequency Trading, on all Sovereignty Wealth Funds acquisitions, an all Foreign Exchange transactions over $ 50,000, on all Search Engines Platforms, on all Twits, on all Facebook Posts, on all Dividends, on all Robotic produced products/ services on all Prize money/ Gambling, Vat, Negative interest rates earnings from Investments, decrease in Military spending  Etc to mention just a few.

This will create a Perpetual Fund of trillions.

Out of which all receive a non repayable Basic income, reduced bureaucracy,while moving towards less conditional social security.

Briefly here is why I think the answer is yes:

1) People will have money to spend – and they will be spending it.
2) Businesses will be busy, and needing to employ more staff.
3) New GST/VAT registered businesses will be starting up as people offer services to each other. Worldwide, people will be catering to the overseas visitor’s market.
4) Smaller communities will be self-supporting retaining their youth in meaningful
employment.
5) Cities will be greatly enriched and new jobs will arrive to cover the increased demand placed on these production centers.

I say, that if economic growth continues, it will bring about ecological disaster. But if economic growth stops (or declines substantially, or the economy contracts), there will be high unemployment and rising inequality.

Whatever we do it will be better than doing nothing. A basic income affords some economic security in a process fraught with uncertainties.

In a world that has succeeded in the globalization of financial assets while keeping political rights enclosed to territories, we need to build new models of democratic governance that enable humanity to collaborate and address pressing global issues. To avoid catastrophic effects of global warming, including sea level rise, increasing droughts, more severe storms, species extinctions, climate refugees and other social consequences of climate change, it is necessary to keep global warming below 2 degrees Centigrade (2C).

The current global average is 5 tons per person.

It might be seen as part of a compact we make with each other, to make sure no one falls below the floor, in exchange for willingness to commit to a decades-long process of transition

To date there have being several Countries trying what is called a Basic income.

Further experiments are necessary to get further data and reports to underscore the significant impact of basic income both to the individual and to the society as a whole and how to initiate and eventually implement a universal basic income in any country.

Show the people what a basic income means to them and let the world decide.

Basic income is by definition fairly simple, but complex and deep in terms of necessity, legitimacy, and direction.

A technologically advanced society can enter agreements of mutual cooperation
without falling back to the means of coercion and violence.

History teaches that money means power and power means votes but the next Silicon Valley is not in a far away land or on any land at all, but a new frontier of the internet itself rising as the one true open, free and sovereign network of peers.

“What happened to the governments?” I inquired. “It is
said that they gradually fell into disuse. Elections were
called, wars were declared, taxes were levied, fortunes
were confiscated, arrests were ordered, and attempts
were made at imposing censorship — but no one on the
planet paid any attention. The press stopped publishing
pieces by those it called its ‘contributors,’ and also
publishing their obituaries. Politicians had to find honest
work; some became comedians, some witch doctors —
some excelled at those occupations…”
J.L. Borges, Utopia of a Tired Man. Writer (1899–1986).

AND FINALLY:

I WOULD SAY;

That every individual and every organisation involved in the Basic Income debate should ask what they mean by the terms that they employ, and should seek the greatest possible clarity, including clarity over any unstated assumptions lying hidden behind the stated definitions; Some state that the Basic Income will be a right of citizenship, or of legal residence, and others might be taken to assume this.

When that is fully fleshed out, it is not dystopian at all. Business as Usual brings us to dystopia.

Degrowth is a readjustment of priorities, consuming less, but living better.

Any politician running on the platform of reducing economic growth is likely to lose without implementing a Basic Income.

Universal Basic Income may be our only way out.

It will eliminate poverty and reduce inequality, with dignity and security for all

• Save capitalism, as technology substitutes for human labor and reduces wage income/purchasing power

• Encourage entrepreneurship, life-long learning, creative and caring work, and civic engagement

However there is one great problem with a Universal Basic Income ( apart from who gets what) is that if it is going to work it has to be implemented on a global scale.

If not it will only contribute to more Inequality and mass migration to get into the country that has such a system.

All human comments and suggestions appreciated. All like clicks chucked in the bin.