There are lots of things in today’s society we take as a given. Things that just ‘are’. We assume they will always be and can’t imagine what it was like before. Ironically sometimes when these things change its without much fanfare and appears logical.
Prior to Covid the notion that we could pay people for doing nothing seemed like madness and any heratic that trundled out such nonsense was unceremoniously discarded. In its most recent telling Rutger Bregman argued that not only was it a good idea but it also saves governments money. Needless to say his speeches caused a stir and propelled him into the spotlight to face the scorn of sensible thinking.
Far from radical, Bregman’s thesis is in fact based on previous work into the relationship between a universal basic income and societal wellbeing. Ultimately resulting in not only a happier society but a healthier more law abiding community with near zero poverty. This in turn saves governments vast sums of tax revenue that can be put to better use.
In February of 2020 all around the world governments struggled with the inevitable consequences of shutting down the economy and forcing companies to send their employees home. How would companies be able to continue paying staff let alone stay in business? It became clear that the burden would fall to governments to mitigate the mass unemployment and poverty that would follow. Then with short shrift they moved to provide allowances and benefits to anyone blocked from working. Some more forward thinking governments saw that the infrastructure was already in place via the employer- employee relationship. So if they provided the cash to the companies the companies could keep paying their staff and indeed mandated that they do just that.
So in a matter of weeks the conversation about universal basic income moved to how best to apply it. Helicopter money, benefits, guaranteed salaries etc.. leading to tricky questions including how to righteously deal with people out of work prior to Covid who are now getting more than they ‘should’. The age old distraction of the people vs the people.
Universal basic income: Next government commits to a pilot programme to trial it
The idea behind UBI is to give adults an automatic payment from the State that isn’t means tested and is given regardless of whether you have a job or not, as an alternative to in-work tax credits and core social welfare payments.
Sean Murray thejournal.ie
But bickering over scraps aside, the genie is out of the bottle now. How could a government expect to get away with a return to the old order. Indeed governments are realising there is no going back and must seriously look at better provisions for the people they represent.