People assume that automation will replace entire industries like trucking. Billionaires and their puppets are selling this theory as a foregone conclusion. The ethics aren’t being considered. Is it right to automate entire industries and leave people jobless? Are we at the mercy of technology and profit? Or can we regulate it to work for society? Ultimately humans are in control of what technology we let into our lives. We can regulate and limit automation if we choose. The same way Oregon or New Jersey require an attendant to pump gas at gas stations.
In their push for the public to adopt a government stipend aka welfare program, salesmen like Tubbs have even invoked Dr Martin Luther King Jr. In an interview Tubbs referenced a speech by King where he calls for a “basic income” as an economic floor to combat poverty in America. Tubbs conveniently left out King’s advocacy for employment in connection to that income as the top priority.
In the millennial millionaires’ model, work seems to be another after thought. In fact Tubbs, feigning wisdom and expertise on the subject, draws the genius conclusion, ‘…the issue with poverty is a lack of cash” as the reason UBI is an answer to America’s problem of poverty. The wealth disparity that currently exists and continues to grow is the overlooked issue.
Proponents even argue that if every American had a basic stipend, they wouldn’t have to work. That they could pursue more lofty goals like the arts or demand more for their labor if they decided to work. It doesn’t take an expert in economics to see the childlike logic in such notions.
In the case of Tubbs models it is not even a “basic” income. A $500 stipend doesn’t buy much in Stockton. In reality it’s a supplement to existing income. Those receiving government aid can not receive it because it makes them ineligible for programs like SNAP.
It sounds ridiculous on its face considering Stockton is a city where the average rent has shot up 24% to $2,000 a month. Gas prices in California are now the highest in the nation at over $4 a gallon on average. Many of the same politicians promoting UBI also promoted several state taxes that drove up California gas prices. That has contributed to the high cost and economic stress put on families and workers.