Quote:
Originally Posted by Z K
I do believe that a universal basic income will be needed in the future.
Low income jobs are disappearing and so are white collar jobs due to automation. The future of employment is not as it is today. Even if you wanted a job, you wouldn't be able to find one unless you have a very high education and skill set. (scientists, engineers, doctors etc.) Everything else will be done more cost effectively and better by automation. So even if you wanted to work for McDonalds, McDonalds wouldn't want you. In the future, there will be a lot less jobs than people who want a job. Since the population of the world is increasing, you'll end up with mass unemployment.
The big question is, how will this minimum income be paid for? Bill Gates has a good idea - tax the companies that automate jobs. For the jobs being replaced, tax them the same as income tax earned by the employee. The idea needs some refinement but it is a good idea. It'll make companies think twice about replacing humans and it'll provide funding to help those who are displaced.
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Penalizing companies who automate may seem like a solution, but then again it may force them to move overseas or lose business to foreign competitors. Not everything can move overseas, of course, but there will certainly be a response by those who can. That response is not necessarily hiring humans. It may be to move or pass on higher costs to consumers (if they can do so).
Perhaps minimum wage laws, requirements to provide health insurance, employer FICA, a litigious society and labor laws in general should be revisited to encourage employers to employ people rather than rush to automation. Automation isn't free. Aside from R&D costs, automation typically requires significant capital investment. Sometimes it is makes sense no matter what the employment conditions. However, sometimes employers are pushed to automate when they believe the cost of employing humans is too high and has too many risks. Using your McDonalds example, will it always make sense to pursue an army of robots to make burgers and fries? Maybe, maybe not. But start talking about a $15 minimum wage for low skilled labor (with protests outside corporate offices), requirements for large franchisees to provide health care to employees, a Labor Department that wants to treat McDonalds as the employer even though franchisees are the employers and a country full of attorneys willing to pounce on any employment litigiation they can find and robots start looking a lot better.