Biden rejects universal basic income idea popular in Silicon Valley

[meadowlander]

10. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Universal basic income would provide the means to live in dignity while training to get the skills for a new job. And we should be focused on meaningful work interspersed with periods of self-reflection and upskilling for the next job, which isn't really possibly when you're homeless or all of your energy is spent worrying about where your next meal is coming from.

In China the government pays people to crawl around in the parks on their hands and knees cutting the grass with scissors instead of using a lawnmower because "work for people is more important that doing things the most efficient way". I don't think we want to be a society that creates useless, soul crushing meaningless work just for the sake of making sure everyone has the "dignity" of punching a timecard every day.

They're already piloting universal basic income in parts of Canada and Finland, so let's see how it goes for them before writing the idea off.