Universal Basic Income, the 30-Hour Workweek, and the Economics of Poverty | Michael Slaby

Universal Basic Income, the 30-Hour Workweek, and the Economics of Poverty
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There's enough money in this country alone to make everyone happy. So why do so few have so much of it? Did they work hard for it? Not really. Think about the idea of an hourly wage. If you do X amount of work and the profits increase by Y, shouldn't you get paid more? That isn't true for 95% of the workforce. In fact, most people work hard just to make their bosses or the shareholders and investors of a company richer. Michael Slaby argues that we should revisit the idea of wealth in this country and perhaps swing to a universal base income. We could afford it, and it might make many millions of people a lot happier. Yet it goes against the oft-cited "American work ethic" that is propped up by the 'hard work equals moving up in the world' idea. Poverty could be eradicated using the techniques Slaby talks about, but it would take a lot of convincing to happen.
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MICHAEL SLABY:

Michael Slaby is a global leader in digital and social media strategy, technology and data analytics, and explores how together they can elevate mission-driven organizations. For Michael, it is not only about developing the necessary technological platform, but understanding what it is that brings people together to take action online, as well as offline. Currently, he is Managing Partner of Timshel—a new company working to help solve social, civic, and humanitarian problems via better technology, engagement capabilities development, and creative capital. Previously he was a Fellow at Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

In 2012, when the Obama administration began gearing up for re-election, one of the first calls went to Michael Slaby, who was chief technology officer in 2008—when the historical campaign leveraged the internet and social media to raise funds and organize volunteers in ways that had never been seen before.

Michael helped lead Obama for America as Chief Integration and Innovation Officer in 2012, overseeing the CTO, CIO, and CAO, in order to ensure effective implementation and integration of technology across the entire campaign.
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TRANSCRIPT:

Michael Slaby: Look, I think change is scary. I think there is no way around that. I think what is familiar is easier for people, and not everybody wants disruption and innovation and entrepreneurship; not everybody wants to have seven jobs. That sounds terrible to a lot of people.

I think the idea, the sort of assumption that “everybody is an entrepreneur” is a bit of a mistake. I think many people are willing to be entrepreneurs given no other option, but a lot of those people would rather just have a job. Like not everybody is a founder. That's okay, this is not some failure. Founders are sort of unique animals in sort of our social ecosystem.

But what I think it requires of us as individuals is: this pace of change is unlikely to be slowed down in a way that is productive. It could be slowed down in ways that are super unproductive like being isolationists and protectionist and trying to make a global economy smaller in ways that ultimately hurt more people than it will help. There are ways of slowing down innovation, but I don't think any of them are actually good for people.

I think the reality is we have to get better at teaching flexibility. We have to teach critical thinking and adaptability to students as part of how we're preparing people for the future. We also have to be willing—this is where leadership matters a lot—willing to be more ambitious for ourselves. We tend to think about progress in generational terms, “I want my kids to be better off than I am.” Well, why wait for your kids? Like if it's easier and more effective to make something somewhere else we can take on a bigger problem.

And I believe that we can do that, that we have the capacity to embrace something more ambitious for ourselves now in our lifetime in a way that isn't terrifying and in a way that isn’t—it's about seeing these things as opportunities and addressing the anxiety of trying new things and embracing new things, and that requires leadership that is confidence-inspiring and that speaks to the discomfort that we're in, and that meets us at an emotional level of leadership that I think politicians are pretty scared of a lot of the time.

And I don't think it's just politicians...

[Epoch]

They did a study in the 30 hour work week makes people much more productive! The reason we have the schedule we do now is because of outdated laws long ago which also related to child labor. The problem is Americans can't come together and improve their own lives. The rich are really good at splitting people apart based on gender or race or even economic status.

[grayj]

For my kind it's a 40hr+ work week. At times it has been an 83hr work week. And yet at that same time my family scrapes by. They say, I must go to school, i already have several times. Everything i trained for is now obsolete.

[GreyGhost]

I love these types of conversations. They are interesting, thought provoking, and the ideas they present might be a catalyst for something better?

[epsilon]

This is a major problem with the world: Too many of us see each other as competitors, and a lot of us are always trying to drag each other down so that we can have a shot at the upper layers. What legitimately sickens me is that, when something like UBI comes up and offers to start solving the problem, a whole host of people rise up and complain about 'unjustified' privileges being thrown at the 'unworthy.' These people aren't poor because they're dumb or incapable, they're poor because they were born poor, and the system does not allow them to climb. Too many people with potential remain in poverty, unable to contribute to the world, simply because they can't pay.

[WarpScanner]

Fundamental misunderstanding: a UBI would be universal. There would be no welfare trap and that is precisely one of the things a UBI would fix compared to standard means tested welfare.

[ginastubinski]

Fantastically said. This is one of the most impressive, perfectly articulated opinions I've ever heard. I couldn't agree more. I've been trying to figure out how to explain this and you did it so magnificently that I wrote some word-for-word notes. I can't thank you enough for helping me lay this out in a quick, easily understandable format. I hope I can lay this perspective in front of the right people to help me make positive policy and regulation changes in my community. Making sh*t happen!! P.s dope shirt :)

[veryliberalprogressiveathe]

Universal Basic Income is a great idea. Nordic countries use this effectively and it works.

[yourseatatthetable]

I grew up hearing about this wonderful thing called a 40 hour work week. But, I can honestly say, that at no stage in my work life, have I ever made a livable wage, if I didn't work all the overtime I could. At 56, I'm still working all the OT I can get.

[ExpendableRedshirt]

The fact is that ordinary workers are the real wealth creators. The focus of todays boardrooms is on appropriating more and more of that wealth for investors. So workers and customers are squeezed evermore. This is the road to revolution.

[miroslavasparuhov]

It always astonishes me how people think "we have the best system, stop changing it!" when the whole of history is littered with people with that same mindset, who defended everything from theocratic monarchies to authoritarian communism. The harsh truth is that the current economic system is not working - it doesn't improve people's lives, it's not empowering, and most importantly, it requires poverty to exist. So we must change it, and universal basic income is a good step, but definitely not the last step.

[TheModernInvestor]

He looks like a game of thrones character

[candiceblack]

I'm amazed at the number of people that expected this guy to give them the perfect answer in under 7 mins. It was a thought provoking piece. It was to make you consider is change possible, would it make my life better, would it make other people's life's better or would it make the world a better place?

The fact is that we are dividing the rich and poor increasingly every year, which is a dangerous situation for balancing economies and keeping businesses in business... they need consumers. We're finding ourselves working harder and being less happy. Is this the world of tomorrow we all wished for??? What are our options ? How do we get there? First port of call is the eliminate poverty, surely we can agree on that. Improve community spirit ... look into Denmark, some of the worlds happiest people and amazing communal living which involves cooking, cleaning and child care routers.

A lot of people in the comment section need to stop being closed minded. Stop waiting for someone to give them all the answers and start looking into what is possible, what's already happening and what can we change.

[summondadrummin]

Money is currently loaned into existence by private banks. Basic income ought be coupled to monetary reform and be spent into existence by the treasury this would incur no debt therefore require no taxes to offset.If private banks can make up money and define it as a debt so can the government make up money and define it as a credit. In the near future people may just find that money ought not be such a big deal as its not real wealth and it is simply numbers used to measure the value of goods and services and fascilitate trade. The current economy is based on a fraud or a many centuries old trick. Perhaps we can grow up let ourselves in on the secret and create a truly modern economy.

[ninjahvoand]

Brilliant!!! This was extremely inspiring.!!!

[teatowel]

We collectively create value and we should collectively share in that value. Great sentiment.
When you say no one should live in poverty I agree however I think the goal posts of poverty are always moving.
Many people that are on the brink of poverty live like kings compared to previous generations.
The problem is many people don't know how to prioritise and are very financially insecure.

[zarkoff]

On universal basic income: "More complicated in its implementation than most people assume" -- that seems like an understatement.

[danglezbenderz]

Considering the fact that so many jobs will be replaced by automation (30% by 2035 and 50%+ by 2060); we really have no choice but to get ready for a day when we have to implement a basic income.

[pthomasgarcia]

It's good to see the idea of Universal Basic Income become more and more popular. Especially, here at the Big Think as no immediate problems at present require bigger thinking than those economic since the economy touches all else. The speaker made good points. Particularly, that the value workers create can no longer be measured and balanced alone in an hourly wage. However, on the point of UBI, it is by definition universal. There are no means-based tests or other considerations for disqualification. If there are, then it's something else other than UBI. But it's time we have these conversations about work, wealth, and decision-making. Democratic decision-making not just as a matter of politics, but even more so economics or at the places we work.

[summondadrummin]

A Basic Knowledge of money and the monetary system ought to be considered a modern basic literacy. In other words when discussing Basic Income do the people discussing know what money is? How the current Central Banking system works (or doesn't)? Watch the vid 'Richard Werner prof brilliantly explains' for a look behind the scenes of banking. Also watch Money as Debt and look up the website of Positive Money.

[wernerboden]

Money represents an amount of work.
If you want to eat, you buy food. That food is grown, harvested and sold in a store.
This all requires work, for which people get paid, however, no one is receiving
the value for their work. If everyone would get what they deserve, we'd all
be working 20 hour per week, no proplems, no unemployment, better health.
Unfortunately, this will never happen. There will allways be people that
have the mayority of wealth, over the backs of hard working people.