There’s clearly a lot of issues around our economic situation right now. Is there a way to change this situation?

We think there is.

Universal Basic Income…but,

You have to participate in a foundational occupation in order to get it.

What’s a “foundational occupation”? Basically a job that, if society didn’t have, would completely fall apart.

These primarily fall into the utility, food, medical and transportation industries. Beyond those realms becomes industries around the forward progression of society. So what level of participation are we talking about here? This will vary on the population size of the city it’s implemented in. It could be as little as 5 hours a week or as high as 10 or 15 hours a week. Regardless, it isn’t a full time, 40 hours a week, occupation level of participation. There will definitely be needs for that level of occupation within those industries, but those are reserved for the people that are actually interested in pursuing a true career in those industries.

How Does it Work Though?

The city would set a recurring time, every month, or every 3 months, or every 6 months, however long the city agrees upon, would be a sign up period for what foundational occupation you would like to participate in for the next month, or 3 months, etc. again whatever the city has agreed upon for the recurring time period. Each industry would have a limited amount of slots to sign up for so that everyone doesn’t end up ignoring a sector of society. After you complete your allotted participation time, you get to choose a different foundational occupation to participate in. You can’t immediately go back into the industry you just participated in. This provides fresh labor on a continual basis for each industry.

In this way you avoid people being burned out from working in a sector that they absolutely hate, and if they do truly enjoy working in that sector they still have plenty of free time each week to be more heavily involved in that industry and make a true career out of it. Since you have put in your 5-10 hours a week into a foundational industry you get your UBI payment so that your full time occupation doesn’t have to be the one you use to survive the day-to-day cost of living. You can actually pursue a full time occupation you do out of joy instead of need.

Seriously, 5-10 Hours a Week?

You have to think about the amount of people living in your city. Let’s use Seattle as an example. As of 2020 census data, Seattle has a little over 750,000 people living there. Now, if only half of Seattle’s population, 375,000, participate in this program that’s 1,875,000 hours per week at 5 hours per person for these industries to pull from. These participation positions would not be specialized positions, mainly the entry level positions or minimal training required positions. This would alleviate a massive expense from each of these businesses within these industries since this labor is essentially free (aside from training) for them. This way they can focus more resources on specialized positions or refining their work flow.

There would have to be an initial audit of the foundational industries operating within the city to see how many hours, at entry level positions, is needed for each industry to operate at efficient levels. Once those numbers are found, then you can set limits on how many hours are needed per business each week and if you need to increase the base number of participation hours required each week. There will have to be seasonal adjustments too for certain industries.

There will still be a need for full-time occupations within these businesses, however the work load can be reduced on those full-time positions with the assistance of the participation positions. This can help full-time workers with reducing burn out, increasing vacation time or earning more per hour since the participation positions are not paid a wage.

How is UBI Funded Though?

Good question! This will have to be voted upon within each city and will look different for each city that takes this on. Though typically, this funding will take the form of a tax. Maybe even the money that these businesses are saving on labor partly goes back to funding the UBI program. Not all of the money these businesses are saving should go back to the UBI though. That way they can focus on paying better wages to full-time and specialized positions along with developing better ways of running their company.

However, you can also divert other, pre-existing tax programs into the UBI as well since the UBI funds account for basic survival costs of living within that city (partial food cost, utilities, partial rent cost, etc.). For example, some of the tax revenue that would go toward homeless programs can now go toward UBI funding and giving the homeless access to the UBI program. This would help them to get back into regular housing options much quicker than many current systems being used. There would have to be a vetting program involved in that scenario to make sure the homeless person going into the UBI program is mentally and emotionally stable. Which is also why some tax resources would still stay within the homeless funding to be sure the people who need the mental/emotional help within that program receive it.

Where the funds come from will be a variety of sources that will have to be discussed heavily to make sure that the city isn’t hurting itself by diverting funds from different places in order to make this work, but it can work.

Future Ponderings

To us, this is just a transition step to the next phase of how human society operates. Eventually we see a mix of a Resource Based Economy and Contributionism as the way humanity goes forward in the future. If you want to see thoughts on those check out these articles, To Those Who Wish to Change the World…, Is there an Alternative to Money? and Anarchy: Chaos or Freedom?

For now, consider this UBI Participation Program as a different and potentially better way forward for humanity instead of doing the same old thing that has gotten us into a horrible economic situation time after time. And remember, don’t panic, be a hippy.