Thinkers
Robert Reich

Universal Basic Income

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Universal Basic Income

https://youtu.be/UqESogRgrYw

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Published on Sep 29, 2016

What should we do when robots take most jobs? (It will happen sooner than think.) Robert Reich explains why a universal basic income may be the answer.

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Transcript

English (Automatic Captions) 0:00you see this no gadget that's called an 0:06eye everything you can't get it yet but 0:09if technology keeps moving as fast as it 0:11is now the I everything will be with us 0:14before you know it a combination of 0:15intelligent computing 3d manufacturing 0:17big data crunching and advanced 0:20biotechnology this little machine will 0:22be able to do everything you want and 0:25give you everything you need 0:27there's only one hitch as the economy is 0:30now organized no one will be able to buy 0:32it's because there won't be any paying 0:34jobs left you see the I everything will 0:37do everything i'm exaggerating a bit in 0:42order to make a point about the trend 0:44we're already seeing even now we're 0:47producing more and more with fewer and 0:49fewer people internet sales are on the 0:51way to replacing millions of retail 0:53workers diagnostic apps be replacing 0:56hundreds of thousands of healthcare 0:58workers self-driving cars and trucks 1:01will replace five million drivers where 1:04would you like to go 1:05researchers estimate that almost half of 1:08all US jobs are at risk of being 1:11automated in the next two decades now 1:13this isn't necessarily bad the economy 1:15we're heading toward could offer 1:17millions of people more free time to do 1:20what they want instead of what they have 1:22to do to earn a living but to make this 1:25work will have to figure out some way to 1:27recirculate the money from the 1:29relatively few people who do very well 1:32in the economy of the I everything to 1:34the rest of us will want to buy the I 1:36everything's one possible answer a 1:39universal basic income 1:42possibly financed out of the profits 1:45going to labor replacing innovations the 1:47idea of a universal basic income 1:49historically has had support from people 1:51on both the left and the right in the 2:04nineteen seventies President Nixon 2:05proposed a similar concept for the 2:07united states and even passed the House 2:09of Representatives I therefore propose 2:11that we abolish the present welfare 2:14system and a basic federal minimum would 2:17be provided the idea is getting some 2:20traction again 2:22some think it could be superior to 2:23welfare or other kinds of public 2:25assistance because a universal basic 2:27income doesn't tell people what to spend 2:30the assistance on and everyone qualifies 2:32in recent years evidence has shown the 2:35giving people cash as a way to address 2:37poverty actually works in study after 2:40study people don't stop working and they 2:42don't drink it away they actually use it 2:44to increase their earnings interest in a 2:48basic income a surgeon with governments 2:51debating it from Finland to canada to 2:53namibia the charity give directly is 2:57about to launch a basic income pilot in 2:59kenya providing an income for more than 3:0110 years to some of the poorest and most 3:04vulnerable families on the planet and 3:07then rigorously evaluate the results as 3:10new technologies replace work the 3:12question for the future is how best to 3:14provide economic security for all a 3:17universal basic income could be an 3:21answer 3:23[Music]

Published on Sep 29, 2016 What should we do when robots take most jobs? (It will happen sooner than think.) Robert Reich explains why a universal basic income may be the answer.