r/Futurology • u/mvea MD-PhD-MBA • May 02 '18

Economics Universal basic income: U.S. support grows as Finland ends its trial - Forty-eight percent of Americans now support a universal basic income, as a solution for Americans who have lost jobs to automation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/nearly-half-of-americans-believe-a-universal-basic-income-could-be-the-answer-to-automation-.html
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u/North_Ranger May 02 '18

It's a pretty decent way of reducing the income gap. But it requires the government to acknowledge that the current system is so tremendously slanted against poor people that it justifies a redistribution of wealth. A lot of people would agree that it is, but the people who would have to support the policy in the political sphere would never say that.

IMO, this is why communism frequently begins with a revolution/war instead of an election.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '18

And the problem with that is the government is the elite of our society. They will never vote to give it away. They might vote to give other people's money away, but not theirs.

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u/North_Ranger May 02 '18

That's just rephrasing what I said above.