Liriodendron_fagotti wrote:I think the "developed" world is definitely at an uncomfortable point where 1) most people don't need to have a job for all necessary functions in a country to work fine and 2) we could potentially move towards a guaranteed income, which will almost inevitably move towards a no-money society. But crossing that barrier is sure to be pretty difficult.
I hadn't even really heard of the idea of guaranteed income a year+ ago. I liked it from the start but it took me a few months to get a good handle on it, another few months to start actively discussing it with friends, and now I'm beating that drum hard and loud.
I think there are two major things that are needed to adopt guaranteed income:
1) We need to remove the idea that work (traditional jobs/labour) are intrinsic to the capitalist structure. I know and understand that most people look at guaranteed income and scream "Socialism!" But it's not. It really isn't even a step closer to communism than what we currently have, from what I can see. It doesn't remove specialization of labour. There would still be endeavour, there would still be innovation, and it would actually prop up the idea of the long-dead American Dream because it would free more people to actually pursue it rather than just taking what they can based on their needs.
2) We need to be able to put it in place while ignoring big corporations. What's horrible about this is that the major corporations are already moving this direction but not because they like the idea. It's because they are looking to cut their bottom line. Online shopping, cashier-less shopping, driver-less cars, machines that make your burger, etc. They are inadvertently pushing the issue, but with their lobbying ability? We'd have to push past their objections (and probably tax them heavier, but that's another issue altogether) and put it out there.
The really sad thing is that we need
both. So I think it's unlikely that it can be done in this generation. There are still so many voters who have their heels dug into how capitalism functioned in the past (pound the pavement, bootstraps, unions, and all that) that it's not likely to make a dent while they still hold the political strings. So while we struggle to get to #1, the corporations will see their advantage, dig deeper, and make it harder for us to get #2. So while the fight gets easier for #1 it'll get harder for #2.
Now that's without some sort of major interruption, which may well occur. Take 'interruption' as you will, as I think there is a broad range of system-changing events that could happen in that time.
As for the move to a no-money society? I think that guaranteed income does kind of lay the path towards it. But those are another set of hurdles which at this point seem pretty impossible to clear. While I think that guaranteed income would require a significant but doable restructuring of capitalism, a no-money society would require something pretty close to a dismantling and rebuilding.