Time to Consider a Universal Basic Income

There are many bipartisan suggestions for a Universal Basic Income (UBI). The proposal isn’t new. Finland has already begun to experiment with a UBI. If we refuse to consider such then we will suffer the consequences of long term unemployment and political alienation of millions because jobs are fast disappearing due mainly to automation. We are fast entering an era in which there’s going to be a chronic shortage of jobs for those looking for employment. That trend is only going to accelerate. Everyone’s job is on the line now including white collar workers and professionals.

The days of someone, mainly white males, getting out of H.S. and landing a $50,000/yr job with benefits at the local plant are gone. Yes, the post WWII generation had that luxury but it was the exception to the rule due to no competition from a devastated developed world.

Here’s my suggestion which is but one of many. It’s strategic not tactical so don’t start asking for the details in an effort to prove it can’t happen. That can be worked out in committee negotiations.

Corporations are data mining every piece of data that we as individuals produce and then selling it to the highest bidders including the NSA for hundreds of billions per year. It’s an unregulated, modern day gold rush happening under our very noses without notice. We as individuals should be compensated for our data in the same way that corporations are compensated for their data. Copyright law should protect us in the same way it protects corporations. Terms of Service Agreements (ToS) should be outlawed. It’s estimated that ToS are costing every family $2,000 a yr. Copyright laws should be amended or rewritten.

There’s a reason we’re not billed for using Facebook, Google, Angry Birds, Android, etc. We’re not their consumers, we’re their product. The vast amounts of profits made by these corporations aren’t due to their products but instead due to the data they steal from us as individuals.

Here’s but one example of lucrative corporate data mining that has been established as fact. “After a lawsuit by 38 U.S. state attorneys general in 2013, Google admitted that its bizarre looking Street View cars, those outfitted with high-tech 360 degree roof cameras, were not just taking photographs for its Street View mapping product as they drove down the streets of our neighborhoods but also pilfering data from computers inside our homes and offices, including passwords, e-mails, photographs, chat messages, and other personal information from unsuspecting computer users.” “Future Crimes” by Marc Goodman.

Google has also admitted to violating U.S. laws against unlawful interception and wiretap. In 2012 Google was fined a record $22.5 million by the FTC when it was revealed it routinely circumvented privacy settings on Apple computers. The primary function of all of Google’s products including Google Glass, Android OS, et al are for gathering the data that we produce. And that’s but the tip of the iceberg given that there are dozens more corporations doing the same with impunity.

Facebook’s billions of users around the world represent the largest work force in history and they’re not paid for the data they produce from which Facebook receives the lion’s share of its profits.

If a corporation profits from our data, whether it be browsing history, emails, buying habits, contact lists etc. then they should have to pay us royalties just as we have to pay for their movies, music, software and more. Such compensation might go a long way toward alleviating our chronic employment problems as well as help the working class who are losing jobs faster than any other demographic. It would not be welfare nor would it involve raising taxes. It would be payment for services rendered. A form of subsistent guaranteed income for all along the same lines that Alaskans have a guaranteed income. Manufacturing jobs are not going to come back and those that depended on them will have to be dealt with or our nation is going to suffer catastrophic consequences.

This and many more initiatives should be included in a robust strategy.