Freedom is a fickle thing, little understood by most and seldom experienced by many.
Imagined freedom for some is just that for the for the daily vicissitudes of the economy limit their behaviour and so remove the spontaneity that is fundamental to emancipation.
And that sociological control, the removal of our human spontaneity, is the unspoken goal of the power regimes in society whose control rests with people not understanding or experiencing real economic freedom.
We are all working for “the man” and history has shown, repeatedly, that “the man” doesn’t like spontaneity or genuine freedom among the people and so will crush it whenever and wherever it appears.
And so the freedom we imagine and pine for in not being economically obliged to dance everyday to the fiscal tune of an inherently flawed systems; systems that favour just a few and disenfranchise the rest, can be found through a Universal Basic Income (UBI).
Australia is rich beyond imagination, although political rhetoric tells us otherwise and despite the political carping, we are ideally placed to simply give people money and so that is where the UBI comes in.
Annie Lowry describes UBI in her 2018 book “Give People Money: The simple idea to solve inequality and revolutionise our lives” saying, “Every working-age adult citizen would receive the same basic income payment every week. A smaller basic income, known simply as Child Benefit, will be paid for each child. Pensioners will receive a higher basic income, known as the Basic Pension.”
The idea of a UBI has floated in and out of political discussion from as far back as the 16th Century (of course it wasn’t then called the UBI) but has not found favour, however, times are different now.
Although not the most important issue, but seemingly the most prominent, we are headed for technological unemployment and under what exists people without work will be forced to rely on the government for an income.
According to economists at Oxford University about half of American jobs, including millions of white-collar ones, are susceptible to imminent elimination due to technological advances and history illustrates that Australians, and by implication those of us in the Goulburn Valley, are usually on a similar trajectory.
A legion of arguments can be amassed supporting a UBI and any counter-argument can be easily dismantled if people willingly, honestly and ethically allow facts to influence their thinking.
The UBI is about equality, sharing and decency and it is soaked in practicality and Robert Jameson writing in
“The Case for a Basic Income”, said: “These cost savings would arise from the fact that basic income is an incredibly simple system to administrate, yet would be able to replace a huge swathe of complicated benefit systems currently in operation - and free us all from paying for the huge administration costs that go with them.”
Further, he wrote: “There would no longer be any need for sickness benefits paid to people who are unable to work. There would be no need for tax credits or 'universal credit' or income support. Incapacity benefit, carers' allowances, some (but not all) disability benefits, maternity allowances, child benefit, council tax benefit - no longer needed!”
Where does the money come from is the most common question, and that of course is not unreasonable.
The arithmetic for bureaucratic savings is obvious, but somewhat harder to detail are savings arriving from the broad betterment of people that arises from the lifting of the oppressive need “to keep a roof over our heads” and the willingness and ability of people to take risks (start a business) when their economic survival is underwritten.
Experience from around the world, especially in poor and developing countries, illustrates that to directly give people cash is clearly best as it is nearly always used to improve a person’s life, despite the odd miscreant who wastes the payment.
And as with the present drought there would no need for public aid for farmers, as we would have already “have their back”.
Taxation favours the few and so would need to be restructured to ensure all were treated equally.
Interestingly, the UBI is not about tinkering around at the edges, rather a dramatic, game-changing simplification that offers, as Robert Jameson says, the real prospect of a genuine revolution in simplification, in efficiency and in the reduction of costly bureaucracy.
A short local and personal story - the little girl from my street, now no longer little as she has three children, one in his twenties, and is being treated for breast cancer.
She has to travel to Bendigo each morning for treatment after which, for economic reasons, she has to rush back to work in the afternoons. A UBI would avoid that crushing necessity in what is a truly difficult time.
A UBI would allow her to escape that practicality and then, as an added bonus, allow for personal, intellectual and emotional freedom.
