Skip to main content
Rage, a wage and the machine
In a time of increasing mechanisation, ideas about a universal basic income are being raised. ALAN SIMPSON is sceptical
Robot 23/2/18

IN a thought-provoking Guardian article, “As robots take our jobs, we need something else,” George Monbiot argued that the the future for humanity lies in voluntary work, underpinned by a universal basic income (UBI).

A slew of economists followed suit. Then the RSA joined in, suggesting that everyone under 55 be given £10,000 over two years to pursue training or caring activities.

They all begin from a premise that, as the RSA put it, “the link between hard work and fair pay has broken.”

Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
US President Donald Trump stands in the presidential box as
Features / 20 March 2025
20 March 2025
As the ‘NRx movement’ plots to replace democracy with corporate-feudal dictatorship, Britain must pursue a radical alternative of local food security and genuine wealth redistribution to withstand the coming upheaval, writes ALAN SIMPSON
10trump
Features / 30 January 2025
30 January 2025
Some hard political choices must be made in Trump’s post-truth era – starting by abandoning any illusions about the ‘special relationship’ and waking up to the need for bold policy-making on the climate, argues ALAN SIMPSON
PLUMMETING IN THE POLLS: Keir Starmer’s popularity ratings
3 January 2025
3 January 2025
Centrist governments around the world face rejection by their electorates as neoliberalism fails to deliver the public prosperity it never promised – and the same fate awaits Labour unless it starts to deliver for those struggling to survive, says ALAN SIMPSON
demo
Features / 2 December 2024
2 December 2024
Undaunted by Big Oil success, ALAN SIMPSON looks at alternatives to lack of courage and imagination stifling the Labour government and it policies
Similar stories
MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS: AI Truth Machine / LIT Law Lab,
Features / 12 April 2025
12 April 2025
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
AI
Opinion / 21 January 2025
21 January 2025
Software engineer SCOTT ALSWORTH explains to his mother
AI
Books / 27 June 2024
27 June 2024
RUTH AYLETT has reservations about the political blindness of a new book about AI regulation, that is nevertheless useful
11 - AI v workers
Full Marx / 22 April 2024
22 April 2024
The increased efficiency of any aspect of capitalism will not automatically lead to its collapse and transformation — avoiding the dangers and realising the potential of AI will involve struggle, argues the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY