I've got a feature article up on Eros Media today. This one is about basic income as the way of getting at the heart of human exploitation.
Excerpt:
This is the face of economic vulnerability and it lies at the very heart of a great deal of systemic issues. Think for a moment about what a difference it would make in your own life, to be guaranteed $1,000 would always appear in your bank account, at the end of every month, for the rest of your life, no matter what you did. How would that money change your life? How would it affect the decisions you face every day? How would it affect your relationships with others from your boss to your spouse? How would it affect your choices? Consider that word: “choice.” What is choice, really? When it comes to any real choice in life, what it all boils down to is the ability to simply say “No.” Without that ability, nothing is truly voluntary. All work isn’t voluntary. All relationships aren’t voluntary. All exchanges aren’t voluntary. The choices we make that we think are choices aren’t truly voluntary whenever the option to say “No” is off the table. Therein lies the full potential of the idea of a universal basic income and lays bare the lack of power many of us are under the illusion of having. Having a basic income creates the ability to look someone in the eye who holds more power than you, and firmly say “No. Not today. Not until things change. These are my terms. Take them or leave them.”
