Social Credit System – Coming to Your Country Soon! Part 2
World Economic Forum – The Great Reset!
Last year, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed interest in introducing the “EU ID,” an ID system that would integrate national IDs with internet sign-ups. In a video posted to the European Commission’s YouTube account, Von De Leyen explained, “Every time an App or website asks us to create a new digital identity or to easily log in via a big platform, we have no idea what happens with our data.”
“That is why the Commission will propose a secure European e-identity,” Von De Leyen argued. “One that we trust and that any citizen can use anywhere in Europe to do anything from paying taxes to renting bicycles.”
What is Universal Basic Income (UBI)?
This is an unrestricted cash transfer sufficient to meet your basic necessities. Everyone, young or old, rich or poor, overworked or unemployed, is entitled to it.
Policymakers from Scotland to India, Silicon Valley to Kenya, have been interested in basic income as a solution to poverty, unemployment, and the bureaucratic behemoth that is the modern welfare state.
The concept is also gaining traction among the general public. According to a comprehensive survey done in 28 European countries, 68% of Europeans would vote in favour of basic income in a public referendum (up from 64%.
Let’s dare to imagine a global society without homelessness and hunger, where every citizen of the Earth can pay their rent, heat their homes and feed their families. Then, it’s a personal choice if you want to work to improve the quality of life for yourself and your family. Having everyone’s basic living needs covered would free up people to explore their passions and dreams whilst not having to worry about making ends meet. UBI can address a number of economic and social issues, for example, the reduction of inequality and poverty, providing a safety net for workers displaced by automation and technological advancement, and giving people more time to pursue more creative and non-traditional working roles and identities. UBI should be universal, non-discriminatory, and available to every citizen regardless of employment status. This is in contrast to current social benefit systems which are means-tested and only available to those who meet certain eligibility criteria. Supporters of UBI argue that it is a necessary response to the challenges of the 21st century and the ‘gig’ economy, UBI would eliminate the current social benefit programmes of the government. UBI provides the freedom to take risks and live a life geared towards fulfilment and realising the potential of our shared human experience. One of the successful, long-term recorded examples of UBI took place in Alaska, since 1982 the state has given every eligible man, woman, and child an equal annual payment regardless of need or economic status, it comes from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend and is mainly funded with the revenue from the states national resource – oil! The fund payment for 2022 has been proposed at $2600 per resident. Studies of the fund have shown that it has helped reduce poverty in Alaska and has had a positive impact on health issues like reducing child obesity. Finland tested the scheme in 2017 by paying $625 per month to 2000 people. The standard monthly payment did not impact employment levels, but they were more optimistic about finding a job and reported fewer health problems and lower stress levels.
The COVID-19 pandemic has supercharged the UBI movement as the pandemic further widened the chasm of global economic inequality.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) – Key Points
- It’s a means of social justice – Justice means that we should recognize, all of us individually, that the wealth and income of anybody are far more to do with the efforts of our ancestors than anything you or I do for ourselves. But why should we have private inheritance of wealth and not social inheritance? So, you can see a basic income as a social dividend on the collective wealth produced by our ancestors.
- It’s a means to enhance individual freedoms – freedom from domination by figures of authority utilising their power (freedom from hegemony). Freedom from being a wage slave, freedom from poverty and homelessness.
- It’s a means of providing people with basic security. Without basic security we become irrational. We are unable to control ourselves, control our time, and deal with the stresses of life. But, if you have basic security, as the psychologists and economists have taught us, we not only deal better with stress, but we become more tolerant towards others, altruism is nurtured as a built-in, basic human value, and we are more productive in what we collectively do. If you have basic security, you work more not less. And when you work, you’re more productive and more cooperative not less. It’s a misnomer to say that if we have basic income security, we will become lazy, on the contrary, it will release the energy, the dynamism and latent potential inside ourselves and our communities. (Mental health and mental development are improved by basic security – pilot programmes testing thousands of people show that the emancipatory value of UBI is greater than the monetary value!)
Universal Basic Income will give people a sense of control over their time so that the values of work grow relative to the demands of labour. The values of learning and public participation grow rather than just survive; therefore, the values of citizenship are strengthened, and the values of altruism and tolerance are nurtured. The evidence from UBI experiments reported via the WEF (World Economic Forum) shows that all these values are enhanced. We know as individuals and groups that presently, society is suffering from a deprivation of those values of altruism and tolerance. This could herald a new era of trust and belief in our governments and financial institutions.
How to Fund UBI?
The obvious means of funding is taxation – therefore current government spending on social welfare would be utilised for UBI. The UK’s current social welfare system is bureaucratic, inefficient and prone to leakage. (e.g., fraud, over-payments, human error)
The 21st-century rise of the technology titans becoming more powerful than nations has led to corporate social responsibility opportunities with Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg being fervent advocates of UBI. So, with centralised, public, blockchain technology we can utilise the UBI payments protocols alongside the social credit scoring system. So, imagine with me, if you will; the good world citizen will earn ‘social credit points’ to boost their UBI payment, they will shop at AMAZON and use TESLA clean energy transportation to keep their ‘good citizen status, which in turn will provide better and discounted access to the products and services which are important to YOU and your FAMILY. Let’s not forget the mantra for this new, golden age of humanity ‘you will own nothing and be happy’!
online sources for part 1 & part 2: youtube.com, weforum.com, wef.org, futurism.com All opinions and views expressed or suggested by the Digital Zeitgeist are not necessarily the same opinions and views held by or suggested by GPM-Invest plus any and all partners, affiliates, parties, or third parties of GPM-Invest. Any type of media distributed by GPM-Invest IS NOT financial advice. Please seek advice from a professional financial advisor.