Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

When robots do most menial labor and computers do the rest, the hypothesis is that society will give people the opportunity to pursue more enlightened goals, better entertainment & contentment, by providing a monthly stipend, euphemistically called “National Dividend.” These folks suggest that if citizens had a baseline income then they wouldn't be forced into taking low-paying jobs & employers would have to raise wages. They claim that a National Dividend will stabilize communities because people wouldn't have to leave to find a job. Advocates also say a National Dividend would allow both parents to stay home with the children, touted as “putting families first.”

The problems with this Utopian concept are threefold: first, there are a lot of folks, especially Millennials, who assign no value, maybe even negative value, to Work Ethic. A nation needs citizens to be productive rather than consumptive or the whole economy would collapse from the weight of Free-Ridership. Secondly, a National Dividend would be a Right, which impinges on the liberty of others because they would become responsible for providing the Free Money. And without Market Forces, who decides which National Dividendees are more equal than others, and perhaps need more money so that they can "do something that makes a difference"?