Guaranteed basic income to every citizen, whether or not they are employed to ensure their survival and that they live in a dignified, humane way, preventing poverty, illness, homelessness, reducing crime, encouraging higher education and learning vocations as well as helping society become more prosperous as a whole.
Wow. Forget raising the minimum wage. This is much much better idea.
The minimum wage could actually drop if we had basic income.
But Americans would never go for it. Miserably slogging through 12 hour days and having businesses open 24/7 is too engrained in our culture.
“BUT WHERE WILL THE GOVERNMENT GET THE MONEY?” screamed Joe Schmoe, slamming a meaty fist onto the table and getting mouth-froth all over the front of his greying tank top. “You libt*rds all think money grows on TREES!! HAHA!”
“But where will people get the incentive to work?!” Mindy Bindy cried, flapping her hands in front of her face. She’d had a fear of the unemployed lollygagging about ever since she was a child and her mother told her to be afraid of the unemployed lollygagging about. “You think people should get paid for nothing? I work hard for my money!”"But who will serve me?” grumbled Marty McMoneybags. “Who will make me feel important? Who will do my laundry and cook my food and stand in front of me wearing a plastic smile while I take out all my stress—because I do have a lot of stress, you know, being this rich is stressful—on them?” He paused and straightened out the piles of hundred dollar bills on the desk in front of him, then raised his two watery, outraged eyes up to the Heavens. “Lord, if there are no poor people, how will I know that I’m rich??”
I laughed. This is perfect! Well said!
The thing is, while I’m sure you could scrape up a few people who’d be willing to just float by on a guaranteed minimum income? For most people the choice to work would be a no-brainer. “Hmmm. I can get by on 33k a year, or I can take that part time job and make 48k… enough to move to a better apartment, maybe take the family on vacation. Sold.” Hell, most people would want to work simply because it gives one a sense of dignity and something to do with one’s time. (Speaking as someone who’s been unemployed, on extended sick leave, etc. in her time, the boredom and sense of isolation that comes with not having a job is almost as bad as the humiliation of having to depend on other people for one’s survival.)
And with this system, part-time jobs and “non-skilled” jobs would be much more readily available because nobody would need to work two or three jobs just to stay afloat!
Which would ALSO mean that employers and customers couldn’t shamelessly exploit employees the way they can today, because if losing a job weren’t necessarily a financial disaster, more people would be willing to walk out on jobs where they weren’t being treated with dignity.
And if this also applies to students (and it should) then student loans would become much less of a problem, and fewer people would flunk out of school because of having to juggle studies and work.
Far fewer people would be forced to stay with abusive partners, parents or roommates because they couldn’t afford to move out.
And the thing is, all those people who suddenly had money? They’d be spending it. They’d be getting all the stuff they can’t afford now - new clothes, books, toys, locally-produced food, car repairs - and with each purchase money would flow BACK to the government, because VAT, also income tax.
The unemployed and/or disabled wouldn’t need special support any more - which would also mean the government could fire however many admins who are currently engaged in humiliating - *cough* making sure those people aren’t getting money they don’t deserve. Same for medical benefits and pensions. And I’m no legal scholar, but I somehow imagine less financial desperation would lead to less petty crime, and hence less need for police and security everywhere?
TL;DR Doomie thinks this is a good idea, laughs at those who protest.
reblogging for more top commentary
They tried something like this out in Canada as a sort of social experiment, called Mincome. What they found was that, on the whole, people continued to work about as much as they did before. Only new mothers and teenagers worked substantially less hours.
But wait, there’s more. Because parents were spending just a little more time at home and involved with their families, test scores increased. Because teens didn’t have to work to support their families, drop-out rates decreased. Crime rates, hospital visits, psychiatric hospitalizations and domestic abuse rates all dropped, as well. More adults pursued higher education. Those who continued to work reported more job flexibility and more opportunity to choose employment they preferred.
Basically, now you can go prove to your asshole family members that society won’t collapse without poor people for you to feel better than.
AMERICA WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?! WHY CANT WE JUST FUCKING DO THIS?!
The more money that is printed, the less the money is worth. It’s inflation. If everyone gets 33k every year, the value of the dollar will become even lower than it is today. That is one of the first things they teach in economy.
(via rosexknight)
My bread post has almost 50000 notes and I have yet to see it come back on my dash.
It’s 11:30 at night and I’m giggling every time I look at this gay fox!
lol lumey are you ok
im a really gay fox tho
You mean Kitsune Zero?
Hes’ not gay.
But for $20….
(via jestre)
Anonymous asked: What are some instances of bronies donating for LBGT/rape victims/etc.?
Uganda orphanage: (converted to dollars) 52,400
There are many but I don’t wanna post all of them so here’s a quick way to find them all
Most of them are for cancer research and orphanages. Stuff like that. And there are many people who help rape victims and the LGBT community. All you have to do is not listen to teh 4chan side mr. anon.
the thing about “destroy all bronies” is you choose to be a brony
you’re not born a fucking brony
you choose to be associated with rape apologists, misogynists, racists, ableists, and homophobic dickhats
so if you label yourself as a brony i’m going to assume you’re a piece of shit, just like literally every other brony
like mlp? fine. call yourself a fan
if you call yourself a brony i’m 100% sure you’re a fucking trash wizard
If that’s what you think bronies are, then you are severely misguided. Bronies have donated thousands of dollars to countless charities including ones to help rape victims, The openly support Womens rights and the LGBT community. This is what bronies are. The people you are thinking of are asshats on 4chan who work to tarnish the brony image by doing shit like stealing a plush and desecrating it. These asshats are shunned by the brony community but douchebags like you only go by second hand stories without doing any research.
(via lolrenaynay)
[video]
[video]
“The moment people don’t realize that was satire is the moment I give up.” — Chilled Chaos
“The moment gays can marry, people will start fucking their toasters.” — Chilled chaos
[video]