As robots take jobs, Europeans mull free money for all

[yallerdawg]

I am, therefore I'm paid.

Source: AO, by John Leicester

The radical notion that governments should hand out free money to everyone — rich and poor, those who work and those who don't — is slowly but surely gaining ground in Europe. Yes, you read that right: a guaranteed monthly living allowance, no strings attached.

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WHY THE MOUNTING INTEREST?

In a word, robots. With automated systems and machines increasingly replacing human workers, France could lose 3 million jobs by 2025, says Benoit Hamon, a former education minister campaigning for the French presidency on a promise of gradually introducing no-strings-attached payments for all. As work becomes scarcer, a modest but regular guaranteed income would stop people from fearing the future and free up their time for family, the needy and themselves, he argues.

It could also encourage people to take risks, start businesses and try new activities without the risk of losing welfare benefits.

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"Growth at two, three, four or five percent in western countries: it's finished," he said in a televised debate last week. "We have to speak the truth."

Outside research backs up their arguments. An Oxford University study in 2015 estimated nearly half of the American workforce is at risk of automation.

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http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7664c680804b4540833055b644919d9d/robots-take-jobs-europeans-mull-free-money-all

[Wellstone ruled]

1. True facts tell the real story.

This is the real story,and now we have to adjust our Social Saftey Net accordingly.

[yallerdawg]

2. Our 21st Century reality.

In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_needs