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Utopia for Realists
Rutger Bregman
The idea of a universal basic income seems an attractive way of dealing with inequality, but I'm not convinced it would work. Apart from the problems of funding it, I think that those in need would still be struggling. Politicians would want to use the funds for their own purposes, and items such as housing would increase in price causing more problems for the least well off. But I'm prepared to look at the arguments, and this is a recent book which puts such arguments forward so I thought I'd give it a try. Welcome to the land of plenty. I found it encouraging that the book starts by showing how rich we are today, rather than trying to claim we live in a world of scarcity. Today's abundance would be seen as a Utopian dream in most past ages. So why do so many people feel that they are still struggling to get by? I'm hoping that the rest of the book will answer this and say what can be done about it. |
