New Short Story Contest

Here you go, The Economic Security Project has launched a short story contest,"Into the Black".

https://medium.com/economicsecproj/into-the-black-a-short-fiction-contes...

See if you can put a Green Wizard Spin on this:
What might a world look like where all of our most basic needs are met? In 5,000 words or less, we want you to explore the impacts of a basic income on individual lives and on society at large. To be clear, we are not expecting you to draft economic policy, but hope to ignite debate around new economies with stories that offer nuanced critique and evidence of impact. Writers may want to address how this economic policy could shift relationships of power, or if economic liberation is even possible without first addressing racial and gender justice. Writers may consider universality (i.e., whether this benefit applies to everyone), investigate the community impact, and even give this economic idea a new name. The most compelling story will change hearts and minds, and ultimately the life of the author; the grand prize winner will receive a basic income of $12,000 over the next year.

Deadline is November 1. Rules and background information on the page.

David Trammel's picture

Hopefully I can come up with something by the deadline.

Being blue collar, and in a job that a large portion of it can be robotized, I've been reading the articles on this subject. I'm also close to retirement (4-6 years) and I'm looking at how to lower my standard of living in anticipation of making due with less income as Social Security is going to be about that much for me ($900-1200 a month).

Personally I am on the fence where a Universal Basic Allowance is concerned.

I oppose it not because giving everyone an additional income isn't a good way to address income inequality, in a small way. A lot of people could be helped if they got the money.

Many people now live so close to the poverty line because the way that Business has tilted the balance of power between companies and workers. You only have to look at the so called "gig economy" as well as low paying companies, often in retail and other lower skilled jobs, keep you below full time work so they don't have to pay benefits. Not to mention the horrible rise in "on demand" scheduling, so you don't know just what your hours are week to week, or even if you will work when you come in for a shift.

No I oppose a UBA because it is a way of forcing everyone to accept these horrible employment practices. Its a bribe and it means we accept that we have lost the economic war to the 1 percent.

In some ways I even think it make the chance of a violent revolution, the pitchforks and lampposts kind, even more likely. I would rather see people fight for a sensible change in the tax laws to favor emplying actual people, as opposed to favoring equipment purchases and robots.

Like JMG wrote about in "Retrotopia".

Having said that, I favor a UBA because I truly believe we HAVE lost the economic war. I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell that the common people are going to be able to rally the political power to impliment the tax changes I think we need to stop that revolution.

That's why I think we will see a better than average chance of a UBA becoming a reality.

I expect we will then see in a decade or two at worse the pitchforks and lamposts revolution, or a civil war and breakup of the United States, or a charismatic dictator and a oppressive government. Or all three. The first two would put an end to a UBA, the third might continue it as a way to maintain control.

Given that gloomy expectation, I favor a UBA because I think it will give a small percentage of the population a chance to downsize their Life, and acquire the skills they need to survive what is coming for them. Like the skills we promote here on Green Wizards.

The vast majority of the poor though, will spend their UBA on lotto tickets, beer and big screen tvs.

David Trammel's picture

I really hate cherry picking studies, they give people a lot of misinformation. Let's look at their basic premise for funding:

"The three basic incomes proposed by the study were $1,000 paid monthly to every US adult; $500 paid monthly to every US adult; and $250 paid monthly to every US child. "For all three designs," a summary of the report said, "enacting a UBI and paying for it by increasing the federal debt would grow the economy."

Specifically, the study found that the largest of the three — $12,000 a year doled out to every American adult — would grow the economy by 12.6% to 13.1% over eight years, by which time the policy's effects would start to wane. That would translate to an increase in gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office.

---

First off there is no way under our business beholding Congress, that paying for a program for "poor" people is going to be funded by increasing the National Debt. What will happen, is that current programs that benefit the Poor will be phased out and rolled over into the UBI. Its one of the arguments "FOR" a UBI, that you can eliminate or seriously cut back on the cost of administering such programs, since the UBI would serve to replace the income for people that the programs serve.

Consider basic Unemployment Insurance.

That's the money you get if you happen to become unemployed for reasons that your State government can put onto YOU. And that's limited to things like the company closing down or you being laid off. It doesn't cover you if you quit or get fired. Its funded by contribution from your paycheck and from fees on all employers. If you enact a UBI, then there is no reason to have Unemployment Insurance. The money put in by employers and employees would then go into funding the UBI. The costs of having thousands of government workers to handle paperwork and decide on eligibility can also be eliminated, and that money saved can then be used to fund the UBI.

Another thing, a UBI would let a lot more companies go to "on demand" employment. Like what many retail and food service companies are doing. That is you don't know until you get to work that day, whether you are actually going to be working. There has been backlash to this, and local laws passed against it in some cities, because we as a people still believe that companies have a sort of contract with their employees to not screw them over too much. With a UBI, companies can just say, "Well you aren't losing money if we don't work you today, you're getting your UBI".

Sophie I believe you said you were on the Government Disability Program. That too will be phased out since the Government's argument is why pay you both?

So too Food Stamps. Think of all the government programs that are there to supliment people's income because of things we feel are not their fault and they shouldn't suffer because of that. With a UBI, that implied contract has a lot less power

We aren't going to get a Winning Lotto ticket out of a UBI program. What they give us with the right hand, they will take away with the left.

---

Now, one of the reasons I believe a UBI will probably get tried before the Collapse get too far along, is because Corporate America through their captive politicians will figure out they can to sell it as a way to benefit the Poor, while taking a slice off a good cut of the money that goes to the Poor now, and using it to line their own pockets.

The example that comes to mind is the way Missouri has made you go to Direct Deposit to a Bank for Unemployment and if you don't have a bank account, then they make you sign up for a Debt card through a third party company, which then adds a small fee when you want to withdraw money.

There are too many companies now who make money off of so call "Convenience", which really means "How can we cut the cost to Businesses, while transferring the cost to Consumers".

The upside though, is to make a UBI work, we would have to go to "Medicare For All". I don't see them being able to run a UBI that allows a large portion of it to be syphoned off to the current Medical Insurance scam. Businesses that stand to gain from enacting a UBI I think have bigger political clout than the Insurance companies. Some sort of compromise would be worked out in that the Poor would recieve limited Medicare, while the Insurance companies would be able to sell supliment plans to the people who worked and made enough to buy them. Much like Canada does.

My current employer "Self Insures", in that they pay out of Corporate profits for any medical expenses I have. I'm not sure but I expect many companies do. So offer a way for them to cut that cost and save money and they will do it.

I could be wrong there though.

There is a whole heck of alot of details that would need to be ironed out before a UBI could be passed, and unfortunately you and I both have NO seat at the Legislative Table.

The current system is badly broken. We don't know how many people have dropped off the unemployment rolls, because there is no work/they can't afford to take the work offered. There are a minority of job creators and a majority of employees who have to be trained and managed and even bullied into serving the Creators. Under this sytem you are a consumer. Under this system you are only worth what an employer is willing to pay you.

A guaranteed basic income has the potential to change that. What would you do with your life if you had enough money to meet your basic needs? Would you have time to voulunteer in your kid's school? Would you start a small business? Would you care for an aging relative or a sick child? Would you take a job that you REALLY loved and not one that just paid for your lifestyle? What would you learn if you had the time? What would you fix, what would you restore, what would you give back to your family, your friends, your community?

Now, do I see this happening in the US in my lifetime? Get serious. We only have a fraying safety net today because during the Great Depression, the 1% was scared to death that the Commies would take over. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Chinese Communists rounded up all their Elites and sent them out to work in the rice paddies. Given the choice between granting citizens a basic income or working in the meat packing plants, our overlords might go for the basic income--assuming that they have not totally tanked our economy.

Some European countries are now looking at a guaranteed basic income. Canada is planning a pilot project in Ontario. The story contest is a thought experiment. Play around with it!