From Corinn Heathers: It makes perfect sense if you think about it: If a worker earns $7.25 an hour, which is now the national minimum wage, what proportion of that person’s income do you think ends up in the cash registers of local small businesses? Hardly any. That person is paying rent, ideally going out to get subsistence groceries at Safeway, and, if really lucky, has a bus pass. But she’s not going out to eat at restaurants. Not browsing for new clothes. Not buying flowers on Mother’s Day. This guy is making a case for the basic income without even realizing it. The sale of basic life necessities do not naturally create zillionaires, and denying them to people in order to forcibly create zillionaires is cruel, inhuman and evil. I support a higher minimum wage because its a realistic goal, but what I actually want to see is the elimination of the minimum wage as a concept, to be replaced with a basic income, in ordinary cash (not vouchers or otherwise limited tokens), provided by the government, to every citizen with no questions asked. As automation and robotics technology increases, more and more menial jobs that people rely upon for survival will disappear. They will be replaced with nothing, yet those people who depend on those jobs will NOT disappear. They will do what it takes in order for them and their families to survive. Whatever it takes.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 00:20:51 +0000