Web Secret 463: Universal Basic Income

Universal basic income (UBI)is a form of social security in which all the citizens or residents of a country regularly receive an unconditional sum of money, either from a government or some other public institution, to cover basic expenses like food, rent, and clothes.

Elon Musk is one of the many technology leaders who has jumped on the UBI bandwagon:

"I think we'll end up doing universal basic income," Musk told the crowd at the World Government Summit in Dubai... "It's going to be necessary."

The economic forecasts for the next several decades don't bode well for the American worker...President Barack Obama [has] warned Congress about the looming threat of job loss, based on several reports that found that as much as 50% of jobs could be replaced by robots by 2030.

The downside of that projection is that millions of people would wind up out of a job — a possibility Musk discussed at the summit.

"There will be fewer and fewer jobs that a robot cannot do better," he said. "I want to be clear. These are not things I wish will happen; these are things I think probably will happen."

UBI will be essential in order to avoid a 21st century retread of the French Revolution in which the unemployed rise up en masse to destroy the upper class. Preventing a few thousand jobs from going to Mexico will not prevent the mass extinction of these U.S. blue collar - and even white collar - jobs.

How will EAPs position themselves to be effective and relevant in this new workplace landscape?

I don't yet know.

But we have 13 years to come up with an answer.