I may be naive, but a life a idle leisure is not satisfying long term to many. Even the wealthiest people today are not content to idle their days away on private islands. They work and take on projects and set themselves goals. I think it is intrinsic in our nature (not all, but a vast majority) to want to build, create, and improve our lives and that of those around us. The pursuit of happiness is tied closely to the ability to enrich the lives we hold dear.
I think that part of the reason idle languish seems appealing is that we are worked too hard and our attention stretched too thin. Every choice under capitalism about how to spend our time has to weigh a vague life and death decision about how to feed and house ourselves in perpetuity. There is no expectation that the welfare safety net will catch us (in the US).
There is plenty of good work that needs to be done, and with free education (including vocational training) there is no shortage of skilled labor. With a surplus of labor we can shorten working hours. So why not have a jobs guarantee? If you are aimless but want to contribute to society, society can put the pathway to build what it needs in front of you and give the tools to achieve it. If in a couple years you decide thats not what you want to do, you can retrain or simply go do something else.
I don’t feel like writing much today, so I will just put a basic concept forward: I think that there should be a formalized system for job income, and citizens without a job, should get a fixed income. When a citizen holds a job, their universal income is replaced by the job’s income, with the exception of schooling.
The amount of money cannot be negotiated nor set by workers nor employers. Each job is rated by the effort, risk, and knowledge metrics required for the role, and applies to everyone throughout the entire nation. Leadership roles have workers vote for who should be leader every so often, along with setting or altering the payment rank of a leader.
Examples of Universal Ranked Income:
Rank 0, gives $10,000. All citizens get this when without a job or not having retirement money.
Rank 1, gives $0 to $10k, in addition to citizen income. Students are paid for learning.
Rank 4, $80k. Fire fighters, lumberjacks, doctors.
Rank 5, $100k. Astronauts, heads of research, surgeons.
Absolute caps on wealth and assets also apply, so that people cannot become millionaires. For a citizen, I am thinking something like $100k for wealth and assets apiece, totaling in $200k. Residential migrants who haven’t yet earned their automatic citizenship, have a cap of $100k total.
Universal Services give things like free healthcare, a free kei car, fuel, basic food, shelter, and so on. Money is used for buying luxury goods, services, bigger housing, and so on.
I may be naive, but a life a idle leisure is not satisfying long term to many. Even the wealthiest people today are not content to idle their days away on private islands. They work and take on projects and set themselves goals. I think it is intrinsic in our nature (not all, but a vast majority) to want to build, create, and improve our lives and that of those around us. The pursuit of happiness is tied closely to the ability to enrich the lives we hold dear.
I think that part of the reason idle languish seems appealing is that we are worked too hard and our attention stretched too thin. Every choice under capitalism about how to spend our time has to weigh a vague life and death decision about how to feed and house ourselves in perpetuity. There is no expectation that the welfare safety net will catch us (in the US).
There is plenty of good work that needs to be done, and with free education (including vocational training) there is no shortage of skilled labor. With a surplus of labor we can shorten working hours. So why not have a jobs guarantee? If you are aimless but want to contribute to society, society can put the pathway to build what it needs in front of you and give the tools to achieve it. If in a couple years you decide thats not what you want to do, you can retrain or simply go do something else.
I don’t feel like writing much today, so I will just put a basic concept forward: I think that there should be a formalized system for job income, and citizens without a job, should get a fixed income. When a citizen holds a job, their universal income is replaced by the job’s income, with the exception of schooling.
The amount of money cannot be negotiated nor set by workers nor employers. Each job is rated by the effort, risk, and knowledge metrics required for the role, and applies to everyone throughout the entire nation. Leadership roles have workers vote for who should be leader every so often, along with setting or altering the payment rank of a leader.
Examples of Universal Ranked Income:
Rank 0, gives $10,000. All citizens get this when without a job or not having retirement money.
Rank 1, gives $0 to $10k, in addition to citizen income. Students are paid for learning.
Rank 2, $40k. Waiters, cashiers, desk workers.
Rank 3, $60k. Middle management, (trained, insured) police, mailmen. lawn workers, crop pickers.
Rank 4, $80k. Fire fighters, lumberjacks, doctors.
Rank 5, $100k. Astronauts, heads of research, surgeons.
Absolute caps on wealth and assets also apply, so that people cannot become millionaires. For a citizen, I am thinking something like $100k for wealth and assets apiece, totaling in $200k. Residential migrants who haven’t yet earned their automatic citizenship, have a cap of $100k total.
Universal Services give things like free healthcare, a free kei car, fuel, basic food, shelter, and so on. Money is used for buying luxury goods, services, bigger housing, and so on.