It occurred to me today that the social value of the open-source work I do in my free time has probably been an order of magnitude more useful to the world than everything I've ever done as a paid employee. Needing to seek a wage almost certainly makes me a less productive member of society than I would otherwise be.

@jsbarretto

a perfect case in point for #UBI (Universal Basic income)

@HistoPol @jsbarretto that and universal basic services

@tshepang
I would need to give this idea some more thought.

You see, if a service does not cost anything at all, there tends to be waste and abuse.

If everyone is given a basic income to cover their (basic) needs, this would solve that problem too, don't you think?

In any event, public goods should be held by a (non-corrupt) state and not by private citizens or corporations (e.g. water rights).

@jsbarretto

@HistoPol @jsbarretto institutions managing such services could be corrupt indeed, but there are solutions to that, like reducing movement of money (where, for example, governments would not contract private companies to do the work)

@tshepang @jsbarretto

(1/n)

Very interesting. You thought of corruption by administrators (and rightly so, see my posts, e.g., about Nestlรฉ and water-rights abuses, e.g., in the US and elsewhere.)
I thought more of abuse by citizens. People tend to value services that are free of charge low.

Regarding the showcase of #Scandinavian countries, they cannot be the benchmark. I'm no #anthropologist but I'd suspect that the following factors influence this result:

1) relatively...

@HistoPol @jsbarretto give people a free service, take it away, and see the reaction... the fight that will ensue will show just how much they value such.

Abuse may exist, but that is no reason to have others suffer. UBI is kool, but may not be enough to cover essential things like medical (in the US, but also elsewhere, to a lesser extent) and housing costs.