Chris, you paint a gloomy picture. The economy can turn around fairly quickly under the right conditions and the optimists among us still see hope at least in the long term.
In the past new industries have come along at a pace that has lead to enormous improvements to the standard of living of the world. Although we may not foresee the next big thing due to our lack of crystal balls, it will likely happen again and again. Our favorite subject of the day, LENR, might be a key ingredient of the changes around the corner. All you need do is to look back in time 100 years to realize how enormous those changes can be. Remember, those people living at that time would not likely have believed that their grand children would one day have a car of their own, a TV, a nice home, etc. due to new and newly developed industries. The changes have been remarkable and swift. I do not see the need for panic during this period. It will not likely require rapid change to our current system to prevent major disruptions to our way of life. We need to take time to make the right decisions and not to jump off the bridge. The introduction of LENR to our world will take many years and will no doubt lead to the the need for large numbers of employees in order to make that change. The old fossil fuel economy will become replaced by a new, safer one and the overall economic pie will be greatly increased by the new products that will come along. There will be much more available for all of us to share and it may be decided that a guaranteed income is the appropriate way to accomplish that task. As long as people are relatively free to invent new ideas the future will be bright. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Chris Zell <chrisz...@wetmtv.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Wed, Dec 10, 2014 11:01 am Subject: RE: [Vo]:OT: what if everybody got free cash? In 2012, 30% of the US lived from paycheck to paycheck. Today, it is 40%. The percentage of people on food stamps has never been higher. Participation in labor markets is at a 36 year low. Job retaining usually doesn't accomplish much as many ex-auto workers can tell you. I don't like redistribution of income but there won't be any alternative once jobs disappear. The current strength of the dollar could trigger radical change suddenly because it could wipe out US exports - and the last trade deficit reading was bad, even with oil imports in decline. It is these export industries that offered hope of good paying jobs - unlike the recent increase in part-time/minimum wage employment that fluffs up jobs reports. Pretending that things will just muddle along somehow could be dangerous as the US has drifted towards becoming a police state in recent years and economic upheaval that is unprepared for might make things worse. -----Original Message----- From: Craig Haynie [mailto:cchayniepub...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:34 AM To: vortex-l@eskimo.com Subject: Re: [Vo]:OT: what if everybody got free cash? You have a prediction that there will be a high rate of unemployment, but these sorts of predictions started in the late 1800s with the expansion of industry. Now you're proposing a solution for this prediction, and believe that any opposition to this solution "does not make sense." But you wouldn't try to solve any other problem in this way. You wouldn't take a prediction based on loose science, and try to solve a problem which does not yet exist. Moreover, your solution requires taking money from people without their consent. So there is no way that someone opposed to your prediction, and your solution, could opt-out. I sympathize with your desire to try to solve an unrealized problem, but ask that you do not include those who disagree with your assessment of the problem, and your proposed solution. Craig On 12/09/2014 06:06 PM, a.ashfield wrote: > I have been writing about the coming high rate of permanent > unemployment that I expect. An unconditional income to everyone is > one the few ideas that shows promise. I was surprised to see that a > large experiment has actually been carried out in India and the > results are fascinating. > Whether that will apply to a more developed country remains to be > seen. Switzerland voted it down quite recently. I expect the major > difficulty here to try it would be the GOP, but logically that does > not make sense. > > Thanks for linking the video. > > Adrian Ashfield
