Alain,
"I share some vision."
It was not clear what source you were referring to in your reply. The
paper that was attached to my earlier reply or Steven's comment on it.
I agree with you that UBI looks like it may be an answer, but as I
suggested, the wise thing to do would be to try a limited experiment
first. Perhaps in some more isolated city in the US to see what the
actual problems with it are.
The problem of course how UBI would be funded. History shows that some
wealth distribution is required and considering that the majority of our
politicians are rich and funded by even richer patrons, it seems
unlikely they would consider that.
Aside from that, doing away with all the social security programs and
the expensive administrations that run them, plus withdrawing our armed
forces from all over the world and just planning on defending America,
would go a long way towards that. Again, very unlikely politically.
I agree with your link "What Piketty Gets Wrong About the Third World"
has a good point as does "Capitalism’s Assault on the Indian Caste
System" but I think religion plays a big role too, although personally I
can't understand why. Maybe it is just too easy for the demagogs to use.
Consider that President Obama is on about his new clean coal regulations
helping children with asthma. CO2 has no bearing on that at all. What
about the hundreds of thousands that DIE in Africa because they have no
electricity and the West won't lend them money to build fossil fired
power stations? Sigh
Adrian.