Enacting a basic income for all Americans

a reply to: ScientificRailgun

I wouldn't worry about a Star Trek universe just yet. First we will move off this rock and strip mine the moon for H3 -- likely replacing it with something more artificial. Than, we'll move outward and inward, remaking the planets as we see fit, and perhaps -- several hundred years from now, we will engage in some large scale construction designed to capture the energy output of our own star.

I imagine we'll have invented some form of interstellar ability by that time, but you never know. One thing is certain - there will be human like creatures adapted to the upper atmosphere of Venus, or any number of habitats in our own system before we worry much about "Star Trek."

The post resource economy is above our heads. Earth will be our womb world and our garden. I'm an optimist.

a reply to: beezzer

well, we might find out in the near future, but well

www.odometer.com.../16

it's seems as though the car manufacturers have been done it in the past!!
I don't know maybe it's to keep valued employees employed instead of risking them flying off to another job if they happen to get laid off. maybe it's a favor to the gov't to keep the unemployment numbers down, whatever...

but well throw in a new round of automation and robotics, and well, companies are liable to find in the end that they wasted was too much money on the equipment because well they will be spending more warehousing their products than they are earning through sales because too few will have the $$ to buy their products.

our economy is so far out of balance that it would not function now without the gov't handouts.

a reply to: ketsuko

only, the artisans tend not to grow big enough to hire people...
at least not the ones I know of.
the ones I know of do what they do because they enjoy doing it. more like small cottage industries than big companies, and well, our dear gov't with all the bull crap regulations and taxes tend to drive some of them bonkers!

Switzerland is no bargain.

Their government is a bust out in debt country too.

Big interest payments and big debt per citizen.

All debt based nations are going down hill.

The MSM and the academic propaganda has taken over.

The Ticking Time Bombs of National Debts

Bombs Away

originally posted by: Nyiah
a reply to: beezzer

And if that world is so highly automated that you and a few billion others have zero job openings to apply to, and no area has anything you can do as a resourceful barterer without resorting to that stipend to learn new skills with, then what? Ritual suicide in the woods?

It.
Is.
My.
Responsibility.

I'd have to find a way. This totally automated world will not happen overnight.

can I suggest that we outsource and automate the gov't first, and well, once we get something sane working in that area we can sit down and see where we stand??
I'm serious, it seems that most of our problems stem from their crazy policies and decisions.

a reply to: ketsuko

I don't know how old you were in 1978, but there were only a handful of people who saw what the world wide web and the Internet might become at that time.

None of us know what tomorrow will bring. There are no prophets. But I'll bet the wildest dreams of our futurists will be outpaced by automation, perhaps even self-repairing machines, within a few short decades. IF we don't just kill ourselves first in an orgy of Protestant work-ethic and consumption BS.

You wouldn't believe what we might automate by 2050, but we will do it just the same.

a reply to: 0zzymand0s
I graduated in 1977, we were expecting flying cars like was in the jetsons. still waiting and well I kind of doubt that it wasn't in our ability to do it but rather, somewhere there were people who didn't want it to happen because they would lose profits somehow. or maybe the idea of cars being flown around by insane people and dropping from the sky when the drivers were paying more attention to their cellphones than they were to what was happening around them just scared the crap out of too many people.
but well I think we have halted advancement in the tech area many times for many different reasons not the least of which we were afraid of losing the jobs.

a reply to: Nyiah

They dont understand what they are saying.

Theres nothing left to do.

originally posted by: dawnstar
can I suggest that we outsource and automate the gov't first, and well, once we get something sane working in that area we can sit down and see where we stand??
I'm serious, it seems that most of our problems stem from their crazy policies and decisions.

On this, we agree entirely. If we are going to rid ourselves of something useless, we could start with 90% of government.

Therefore, we wouldn't have to worry about automation taking all the jobs.

a reply to: dawnstar

I graduated in 1977, we were expecting flying cars like was in the jetsons. still waiting and well I kind of doubt that it wasn't in our ability to do it but rather, somewhere there were people who didn't want it to happen because they would lose profits

Yup! I graduated in 1976 - I was 17.
My first 'professional' full-time job was working as a file clerk, then I was trained to be in some of the accounting stuff. We worked on terminals linked to a mainframe. Waiting for the screen to load up took so long!

We had a 'cartoon' at the office that showed a skeleton with cobwebs sitting at a desk, who'd become that way waiting for his 'terminal' to load up. 8088 was the next thing. EDIT: Wait, 8086 was the next thing!!

But yeah - I can't even count how many times that main-frame crashed and we had to reload from floppy discs (the floppy kind) to reboot the whole system.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Damn they had entry level accounting positions back then!

a reply to: ketsuko

It's a beautiful blanket! Can I interest you in a one of a kind musical instrument? Or a beautiful piece of art made to your specifications?

Funny how things still have value, even when we remove the illusion of money from the equation.

a reply to: onequestion

Damn they had entry level accounting positions back then!

Yes, sir, they did!

I learned on the job. AND got paid.
Went from basic data entry and reconciliation of checking accounts to Double-Entry Bookkeeping - and wound up being the

AR/AP "Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable" manager.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Thats cray!

Its insane to think that a company would want to train their employees.

a reply to: onequestion
ya they had apprenticeship programs for the trades also. They started vanishing I think during the 80's. That's another thing that would do wonders for our economy, if the companies started accepting some responsibility for training their employees instead of thinking they should get the training in some school and come fully prepared to handle every aspect of the job.

a reply to: dawnstar

Nah they dont need apprentice programs there is enough skilled illegals out there to build another America.

a reply to: onequestion

actually what's insane is having the machinist at the company you contracted to make the part calls you up and tells you that college educated fool that you hired to make the blueprints screwed up and it won't work the way it's drawn but he thinks it will work with the adaptations he's made and well you have no choice but to hope he's right because you need the part and ain't got time to have the blueprints corrected...'
my husband used to gripe alot about that one!!!

a reply to: onequestion

Wait...So - were you mocking me?

a reply to: dawnstar

I know its funny i laugh about that a lot too when ive encountered what i call educated idiots.

Its the downfall of society happening before our eyes.