In the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/technology/plan-to-fight-robot-invasion-at -work-give-everyone-a-paycheck.html?hp <http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/technology/plan-to-fight-robot-invasion-a t-work-give-everyone-a-paycheck.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSo urce=story-heading&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stor ies-below> &action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth® ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below
Farhad Manjoo stated that, "How will society function after humanity has been made redundant? Technologists and economists have been grappling with this fear for decades, but in the last few years, one idea has gained widespread interest - including from some of the very technologists who are now building the bot-ruled future. Their plan is known as "universal basic income," or U.B.I., and it goes like this: As the jobs dry up because of the spread of artificial intelligence, why not just give everyone a paycheck? Imagine the government sending each adult about $1,000 a month, about enough to cover housing, food, health care and other basic needs for many Americans. U.B.I. would be aimed at easing the dislocation caused by technological progress, but it would also be bigger than that. " The idea of universal basic income or U.B.I. is so much contrary to the working principle of capitalism that it has no chance to prevail either as an unemployment compensation or as an economic policy gimmick. In fact, this idea seems to be an extended sequel to the "helicopter drops" ( http://willembuiter.com/helifinal.pdf ) of money recommended by the late Milton Friedman who said, "Let us suppose now that one day a helicopter flies over this community and drops an additional $1000 in bills from the sky ... Let us suppose further that everyone is convinced that this is a unique event which will never be repeated," (Friedman 1969, pp 4-5). No, both have never worked nor should. The necessary total solution to the automated-production problem is to give up capitalism and embrace whole-heartedly socialism. Profit, rent, interest and tax all come from one and only one source, namely (the unpaid) surplus labor without which capitalism cannot survive. The problem boils down to the fact that without living labor power creating surplus value embedded in commodity for capital to appropriate, i.e. surplus labor power, capital cannot recover the cost consumed by machines or means of production. It's true that means of production possesses dead labor power as use value but it provides no surplus value and after depreciation, wear and tear, it will deplete its value to minutiae. Thus, capital will have to prevent a rapidly automated-production society from developing for fearing its own demise as a result of being overthrown by its former working class now unemployed en masse due to automation. The dilemma challenging the automated-production society cannot be thoroughly resolved by distribution of money because first, the unemployed do not contribute wealth to the society and an income-deficient society cannot survive thereof let alone distribute money and, second, capital can hardly look after itself and it is, therefore, out of the question for capital to squander money away. Some good-natured commenters on welfare capitalism may have to think not only for the unemployed, underemployed and working poor but also for the cornered capitalists. "A cornered cat becomes as fierce as a lion" so to speak. Before nationalizing their means of production, the society under the state's controlling power need to make welfare available to capitalists. Class struggle is both violent and coming of age.
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