UBI Enables Alternatives to an Cannibalistic System
All Complex Ecosystems Have Parasites
“the money is that way” by theclyde is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Our economic system is operated under the idea that the world is a market. I believe this indicates that those in charge are focused on money rather than time as being the true source of wealth.
As an individual, our time is our true most precious resource. Time spent in a dead end job is time that is not spent with friends and family, working on your passions, or chasing your dreams.
What exists in the world is the sum of the labor of the people. Money can be a resource to enable the activity of individuals, or individuals can be a resource to enable increased profitability. The difference depends on the choices of those given opportunity.
Our system rewards those who manage to extract value from the system over those who contribute value. Finding cheaper labor in another country can improve a company’s bottom line by removing opportunity from Americans who lost their jobs.
When asked, CEOs will tell you that they have a fiduciary responsibility to investors to make these decisions. They have no choice.
We, as individuals, have a choice. We have no responsibility to support these companies with our labor, purchases or investments. There are alternative micro-investment options like like Mainvest and StartEngine.
The biggest investment is your time, because it is your action that ultimately changes the world, not your money.
I’ve made the decision to use my 401k to fund my own business, with a goal of creating something like a community tech incubator. By choosing to invest in providing opportunities to others, I believe I will make a more effective positive change.
Universal basic income could allow for more people to make the choice that I did, without having to have a retirement to fund it. The change itself has to be social. The government can provide the environment to let it thrive, but removing the barriers to self-employment and entrepreneurship.
When public companies insist on destructively self-centered choices, then we must enact policies that change the status quo. The question is not if, but how. Focusing on enabling entrepreneurship would be a positive approach for achieving this.
