Danial,
I don't agree. The output of robots can be taxed in a number of ways so
that the money is distributed to the population Rather than being
something the government spends it is something that the population
does. With UBI it is an alternative to socialism. The money is just as
real and still gets circulated. Those that make, install and run the
robotics will get super rich or they wouldn't bother do it. Contrary to
general opinion 73% of those on welfare have jobs: it is just that they
can't bring back enough money to live on. If companies had shared the
gains from productivity we would not have had wage stagnation and the
transition could have been postponed a while.
In my opinion, the lack of growth in the US economy is due to so many
not having any money to spend. Reducing taxes and trickle down won't
solve the problem.
On 11/25/2016 7:57 AM, Daniel Rocha wrote:
There is an intermediate until full robotization. That is, when robots
are efficient but not that much. So, I wonder who will pay the debts
when robots/smart algorithms become more and more advanced. With
people being jobless, companies won't have to whom to sell stuff.
There is the suggestion of "basic income", but in this extreme case,
it is merely printing money, it won't circulate with enough quantities
to pay enough, well, basic stuff. Not even companies will find ways to
invest, since their products will not yield profit, since there is
nothing beyond the basic to buy them. But, even if people slowly use
the basic stuff to buy some products, all the debts, and worse, with
growing interest, will not be pardoned.
So, in this intermediate stage, I think people will get despair and
there will be a societal collapse, if the debtors simply do not
forgive debts. I see some of the sort of stuff happening nowadays.
Many of the advanced countries are injecting money, but a quite large
portion of it is not used for investment, but it is simply hoarded for
especulation (futures investiment). It looks like a vicious cycle.
Japan, it seems, it is using negative interest, but is not working well.
