Why Joe Biden Is Wrong About Universal Basic Income
Everybody deserves a blank check. Except Biden.
Jamie McCarthy / Getty
Deserve’s got nothing to do with it. — William Munny, Unforgiven
What is Biden’s problem with Universal Basic Income?
What UBI means is that everyone in America shares the wealth: you get money, just by the value of being a citizen. You get enough money to live a decent life, just because you’re a person with dignity and worth.
UBI is beloved by both left and right, for different reasons. What counts is the disease that it’s treating: automation and artificial intelligence will eventually take away all the manufacturing jobs. Soon the metal beasts will be cranking out all our toys. Human hands no longer required.
You can guess the result: vast hordes of laborers will be thrown into the unemployment line. That’s grim news for any functioning society. What is the solution to this brave new world of mechanized toil? What will happen, when every day is track suit day? The online magazine Quartz explains:
… the best solution would be in the form of a universal basic income. UBI, an economic proposition in which a sum of money is regularly paid to a population, could be a vital bulwark against the unintended consequences of automation in the workforce. Companies will profit significantly from workforce automation, so the private sector will be able to afford shouldering this burden, while at the same time still making greater profits
Who could disagree with this? Biden. Biden could. According Axios:
Former Vice President Joe Biden tomorrow will push back against “Universal Basic Income,” or UBI, one of the most popular suggested solutions to the massive eradication of jobs that’s feared because of automation. UBI is a check to every American adult, but Biden thinks that it’s the job that is important, not just the income. In a blog post tomorrow timed to the launch of the Joe Biden Institute at the University of Delaware, Biden will quote his father telling him how a job is “about your dignity. It’s about your self-respect. It’s about your place in your community.”
Twitter went to work on Scranton Joe:
So then I guess we should take away all that passive income rich people get. Since it’s compromising their dignity and self-respect.
— London (@mindforgd) September 18, 2017