JohnnyFive said: “A tax system requires a central authority. The determination of how that tax is redistributed requires planning.”
EVERYTHING requires planning. Planning is good. But somehow you think by giving everyone back their tax money means that stalin is nationalizing every industry. What does one have to do with the other?
A society where you spend tax revenue instead of government does not mean the government is seizing every business, putting an end to capitalism and centrally planning the entire economy.
“But I suppose everyone will be so deleriously happy living in their centrally planned 5-star resorts that they won’t notice they no longer have any freedom. Oh and who decides to build all these robots by the way?”
Where does it say the resort industry will be nationalized? New and existing robot companies will build robots. We live in a free country. You can build anything you want.
Have you even read the plan!?!
“What if a society does not want robots everywhere? I smell the stench of oppression.”
If you do not want to live with ATMs, automated checkout machines, self-serve gas pumps, self-serve elevators, factories, dish washers, sprinkler systems, the internet, automated tasks of all kinds, and all the progress of modern technlogy then you can buy a plot of land in the wilderness and live a primitive life.
I smell the stench of the unibomber.
“How could the market system possibly stay in place in the absence of any incentive for entrepeneurs to take risk? Everyone gets to live in luxury remember, with zero risk..”
Everyone gets a $20k dividend. The $30k dividend requires you to work. But you honestly think that a $20k income will eliminate all the incentive for people to develop new ideas and improve upon existing ones?
You do not have an accurate understanding of human motivation.
You think the only people that work are poor people!?! You think rich people are all retired? You think people like Steve Jobs will fold up Apple and kick back in front of a TV and live off his $20k? Doesn’t he already have billions?
“After all, what incentive does any member of society have to make a profit?”
One of their incentives will be to earn more than $20k! But a much larger incentive will come from the satisfaction all humans get from being productive and contributing to society.
The vast majority of successful entrepreneurs can retire on an income a lot greater than $20k. But they don’t.
“Who would bother striving to serve consumer need when, in the event that they succeed, all that happens is that they go back to their 5-star resort with everyone else who have served no consumer needs and are busy pondering the meaning of life with an iced tea. Zero risk = zero progress = zero economy.”
People who care about other people will be the ones who make sure they do right by others. But a person who makes $200k will have a much different lifestyle than someone who makes $20k. Many people will be motivated to earn more than $20k.
The point is to end poverty and bad neighborhoods. It is not to force everyone to live identically.
But if $20k is enough for you and your happiness is best served by kicking back with iced tea contemplating the meaning of life, you should have the freedom to do that.
“Indeed there are many crappy jobs that need to be done, but who the hell would do them when they are too busy painting and singing and dancing and living la vida loca in their 5-star resort?”
Hopefully, we can progress to a point where every single crappy job is done by machines. We have come a very long way over the last few hundred years in reaching that goal. And with a deliberate effort to invest in technology, we can get there within this decade.
You don’t think eliminating the need for humans to do crapy jobs is a worthy goal?
“Even in welfare states such as the UK people are paid a pittance and do not bother working to raise their standard of living, there are literally millions of people in the UK who do no work at all and simply leech off of other people.”
So you want to end all “leeching.” You want to put a permanent end to inheritances? Trust funds? Your vision for society is to force everyone into labor or die? Sounds pretty tyrannical.
This alternative vision uses technology to eliminate every job people do not want to do and gives people the freedom to explore opportunities other than employment.
“What do you think would happen if insead of paying people a pittance you allow them to live like kings? Initially it would have a kind of success as you live parasitically off of previous wealth (goods and services) produced under capitalism. But eventually the structure of production would break down, vital goods would no longer be produced, and no matter how much ‘money’ you print you would find yourself falling back to the economy of peasant farmers.”
Your understanding of how society works is completely wrong. Just because people will always have a $20k income and earn a high income when they work and are able to borrow without the ridiculous interest scam, does not mean capitalism ends and everyone will stop working.