Why does everyone have to work?

The universal basic income - a podcast by Steven Sumpter

Please check also these links:

"The Forgotten Struggles of Single Mothers for Basic Income"

a blog

a town without poverty

USA - Rich vs Poor

It's the 21st century -- why are we working so much?

interesting statistics

Universal Basic Income Calculator

Jobs Are Not the Answer

Basic income in the United Kingdom

[jwhitenstall]

The amount of suffering, stress, anxiety, poverty, and bureaucracy this would remove from society would be great, and would save resources in having to deal with the crime and ill health effects associated with poverty. Time to implement this now.

[mikesavio]

I don't understand this stigma against those who don't want to work. We don't get much time on this earth, and many of us, our time may be cut short. Meanwhile, so many people dedicate 30-40 hours of their lives a week doing something they hate. And for what? A sense of living security? That they MIGHT get rewarded with the luxury to retire when they've worked hard enough? We spend so much of our precious time and energy trying to make a "living", that we forget to...well...live.
I might not be doing anything but "lying around the house", but at least it would be my choice to do so.

[DavidLopanjr]

You're absolutely correct. Their is nothing worse than working with people that don't want to be there. Everyone should receive basic income. Those who want to work will and the work place environment would greatly improve.

[shevchenko]

I wish we didn't have to work. I wish I could stay home and watch soccer or play video games all day long and get up or do whatever I wanted when I wanted and wake up when ever I wanted. I wish I could enjoy my days more than spend 8 hours working with people I don't like and come home with a migraine. I wish I could enjoy my family more. I wish I could take a vacation to Europe and not worry about money or anything.

[JosephD]

problem... this gives individuals control over their lives and takes it away from the super rich slave drivers.

[AnnoyedDragon]

Rather naively, while growing up I did as I was told. There wasn't any reason to question, there was an order to the world and this is what you had to do to live in it. So I went to school, college and then university. I got qualified in information systems management because I had an interest in working with computers. This is the stuff online business runs on, so it seemed like an appropriate choice in the information age. In 2009 I got my degree, despite the recession I set out into what I believed to be the next inevitable step and looked for employment.

The end of 2013 and I am still looking for work... No matter how many jobs are applied for, both in my field or entry level, no one was interested in someone who didn't pop into existence with a couple of years of on the job experience under their belt. In 2010 I managed to get a voluntary administrative role at Remploy, which only lasted a few months as the government cuts shut the factory down. Today I've managed to get volunteer work as a retail assistant in a charity shop since March, but rarely if ever get a response to any job applications; even with the shop experience on the CV. I also do voluntary work helping to dig over beds in the local allotment during weekends, not job seeking related but I enjoy gardening and the one at home is block paved.

The government talks about people such as myself like we're scum, they're only concerned about youth unemployment; which I was once upon a time. We're demonised in the media for not working but I cannot force employers to hire me. They have A4E breathing down my neck, who seem to do nothing to help me find work but threaten to sanction me if I miss one of their useless appointments. I fear for when my time runs out and I'm forced onto the work programme under threat of sanctioning, were I'll likely have to provide free labour for the very companies who never responded to my job applications.

I don't know if what is suggested in this video is a potential solution, I doubt it is on the table with the UK government. All I know is the present situation is soul destroying. I want to work, it just doesn't seem to be on offer.

[datly]

No one is really lazy. People are actually love working, as long they get do the job that they love and enjoy doing it. This idea is going to work and will happen. Humanity is on the rising right now, any ideas that benefits the human race as a whole will be supported. :))

[ferabra]

All discussions about solutions to the financial crises, or economic problems always remind me of a joke. "How do you save someone from suffocating?" and the answer is "stop squeezing his neck". That's basically how I feel about the economy. Get rid once and for all of fiat money and compound interest on bank created money, get rid of income taxes, tax just land value, and give everyone a basic income for housing and food. Stop squeezing everyone's neck and magically scarcity will disappear, crime rates will drop overnight, etc, etc. IMO we've been all brainwashed from the craddle. Just think of the expression "to earn a living". It's implicit that if you don't earn a living you earn to die, right? 

[fkusrnms]

ITS NOT A PIPE DREAM AND ITS WORTH FIGHTING FOR GLOBAL BASIC INCOME FOR ALL!!!!

[jish]

Honestly, a Universal Base Income is something that I've been thinking about for years, but didn't quite know what the name for it was till just recently as I was researching the future of the world and how every job's becoming Automated. 5 years ago, I would of scoffed at the idea of a fully Automated work force, but now, I see it hitting us hard not even 10 years from now, and with a prediction stating 80% of jobs will be fully automated by 2045, this is a very real threat to human life.

What I do believe will need to be implemented in order for the world to survive and prosper is the implementation of a Universal Base Income. If it is not implemented, the worlds economy (not just the US's economy) will implode as more business decide to become automated as a means to cut labor. What this will do is put more people out of work, thus in the end, the businesses will destroy themselves because they were the cause of unemployment, thus causing their own demise. Now, I cannot hate businesses for doing this, on the contrary, it will bring new light to the world as businesses will quickly realize how harmful the shift is and thus realize that it endangers not just us, but them as well. Once that happens, THEY will push for this, because they would be in the same boat as everyone else because of their own ignorance. 

What's really funny tho is that once the big businesses push (because they control the politicians), things will change, and quickly. But unlike before, where the change was minuscule and insignificant, this change will lead to a more prosperous world, because no more will we be controlled by jobs or bosses, and as such we can grow financially, and thus start actually building wealth, building a life WE want. We can create, invent, cure, we can achieve what we want at that point and live full lives, travel, indulge in different cultures, everything. So honestly, I hope this comes quicker, cause it will bring about a better life for us all.

[JanosAbel]

"Why use money at all?"
Because money is an automatic accounting system.
An efficient production arrangement has to record the varying amount and quality of resources that go into producing a service or commodity. This is an aspect of economic reality.

The only problem with money is that it has been stolen from us. We have to get it back. Join the Positive Money project.

[ottson]

It's the current system that's highly controversial, not this.


Btw, broadband is as basic a commodity as water & electricity. Why is it that those who want to punish the unemployed always classify internet access as a luxury? It's because they're dinosaurs.

[juliedaniels]

When you remove the strain of living the knock on effect will likely be happier citizens. Calmer parents, people finding the time to enjoy life as well as educating our children that serving society is a worthwhile commitment be it through science or teaching or gardening or following a passion for music. The whole idea of progress was so we didn't have to work are arses off . We only get one shot of life we should be able to follow our own dreams.

[FutureSlap]

Income tax is coercion & extortion. These immoral practices have no place in our individual lives, or social order.

[socialismRules]

services for the poor cost more- in taxes than a basic income 
here in america homelessness costs 4 times as much as housing

Workfare for a family of 3 costs more than welfare would cost for 3 families 

no safety net costs more that a safety 

[MichaelMolli]

First we introduce the basic income and then we work on changing the monetary system - not the other way around.

[adrianwhiteley]

With all the new technology, even supermarket cashier jobs have been ended.  The whole point of machines was to give us more leisure time, so why complain when that is the result?  You talk common sense, and are very logical, unlike all politicians who are just out to line their own nests.  Good luck to you.

[MichaelMolli]

Have faith. It's not too late yet.

[matchbox]

good points made, and i fully support the idea

but please spell check the subtitles.. spelling words like "divided" wrong is inexcusable and may dent the credibility of the video

the point you make at 7:34 is why the powerful will fight the idea

[petarparchev]

This is great.can't wait for this to happen.