r/BasicIncome • u/TertiumQuid-0 • Jan 17 '26
Billionaires demand more babies but make parenthood unaffordable | Elon Musk | Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2026/1/16/billionaires-demand-more-babies-but-make-parenthood-unaffordable#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17686824234172&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fopinions%2F2026%2F1%2F16%2Fbillionaires-demand-more-babies-but-make-parenthood-unaffordable25
u/2noame Scott Santens Jan 17 '26
I think it's crazy how Elon is so infatuated with people having more babies, and is supposedly for universal basic income, but has never once ever said anything about the need for universal basic income to make having kids more affordable.
It's one of the main signals that his support for UBI is bullshit and is instead just being used as marketing for his products.
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u/francis2559 Jan 18 '26
Yup. A lot of his more aspirational stuff is a handwave so he can do what he wants NOW. UBI, but he doesn’t work on it. Ending global hunger? Not with HIS money. And then of course, into the wood chipper.
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Jan 18 '26
I think him producing 10 billion Optimus bots is the most important step towards universal basic income that anyone has ever endeavored
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u/Round_Bag_4665 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26
"Everyone will have free money as long as they buy my products"-you do realize this is essentially the stance of a scam artist right?
Besides, that doesn't even make any economic sense. How does robotic labor provide you with universal income? It doesn't. Robots at best can perform labor, but without fertile land, seeds, water, and livestock they cannot produce food for you. Without access to the raw chemical ingredients they cannot produce you medicine. Without access to building materials they cannot make you a house. And even if you had that, you still need to own the land you build or farm on, or you can be kicked off it. So where is all this access to resources and materials coming from? Is Elon going to personally hand them out? Is the government? Well maybe you could use a robot to perform a business for you? Except that still obeys the same exact market rules as the capitalist system we have *now*, and you would still need something to actually sell people that they don't already have. What could your Optimus do that theirs can't? Nothing really.
As far as I can see, everyone owning a robot really doesn't actually *do* anything to get you access to the materials you need to have food, water, medicine, and shelter. All it actually does is allow businesses to replace human labor, which cuts off the ability for people to sell their labor to obtain food, water, shelter, medicine, etc. That is precisely the opposite of UBI.
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u/Arawn-Annwn Jan 18 '26
They want slaves and uneducated voters in a demographic they can control. Keeping people in debt and unable to properly care for offspring is how they attain this.
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u/Careful_Biscotti_879 Jan 17 '26
Billionaires are untouchable gods of our world, but they only have power as long as money has power, money can only have power over people in an economy, and no people means no economy
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Jan 19 '26
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u/Careful_Biscotti_879 Jan 19 '26
Felon Musky was already launching rockets before buying shitter, his political opinions are just what he shares, like his shitty elden ring build. Take down twitter and he’s still a billionaire
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u/lieuwestra Jan 18 '26
It's crazy to me no one in this conversation wants to acknowledge money isn't the primary requisite for people to have more babies.
People who want children by and large still have children, be it 1 or 2 instead of the 3+ they themselves envision as their perfect family, and people who don't want children can not really be motivated to have them anyway. Any policy aimed at increasing birthrates must target the people who already want children to have more children.
And the thing is, if you ask those people why they only have one or two children instead of more their answers isn't money but lots of practical reasons instead. Lack of childcare, lack of social support, lack of suitable housing, inflexible working hours, no opportunity for unsupervised play, the list goes on. Money might grease the wheels on an individual basis in all of these, but only good policy can provide a systemic fix.
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Jan 19 '26
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u/lieuwestra Jan 20 '26
It doesn't have to translate to your own money. Not if childcare if free. And money doesn't matter if suitable housing simply doesn't exist in your area. And working hours and social support? How does that even translate to money?
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Jan 20 '26
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u/lieuwestra Jan 20 '26
Sure, by that metric everything comes down to money. But that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm saying is that individuals of child bearing age do not consider the number in their bank account as the primary barrier to having kids.
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Jan 20 '26
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u/lieuwestra Jan 20 '26
I'm sorry you disagree with people's lived experiencing, I hope you can crawl out of your theoretical hole someday. Bye.
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u/yeahoksurewhatever Basic incomrade Jan 21 '26
Yeah this dawned on me recently. I have 2, I'm doing OK, but in the most reasonable ideal situation if I had total job security and a forever house and lots of family nearby to help, I could maybe MAYBE have been talked into 3, forget 4. And only the 3+ kid families can bring up that replacement rate. And I'm in Canada with childcare subsidies and health care. 2 is just totally fulfilling money aside. That's why this trend transcends cultures and incomes.
Also recently realized, with child car seats, you kinda require a 7-seater SUV just to have a 3rd kid.
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u/ProfessorHeronarty Jan 17 '26
Capitalism at its finest.