The Quickest, Most-Direct, Most-Efficient and Most-Comprehensive ‘Stimulus’ is, not coincidently, also ‘The Reform of the Century’ – The Universal Survival Income (USI):
- Citizens [one-off and only if needed]: Open MyGov; Associate Bank Account; Log-off.
- Treasury:
- [No means-testing so…] Press USI transfer button and let the doubling of prosperity begin.
- Repeat fortnightly.
[The Infrastructure already exists only the Decision is Absent.]
Maxim, Motto & Mantra:
‘Rather than Attacking Symptoms – which is, ‘The Universal Error’ – We must Strike at the Source.’
Nature’s Singular Inter-Relational Dictate:
Humanity must abide by Natural-Morality – i.e. of putting our society before ourselves – which means we must fine-tune our Societal-Systems such that they: “Maximize citizens’ 1) willingness and 2) capacity to put society before themselves.”
In this way, in response to our Perfect-Storm of exponentiating Socio-Econo-Enviro-Disease (SEED) calamities, we may, at last, dispense with our current fighting of symptoms in favour of solving them at their source.
‘Operation Covid: Save Jobs’ (as reported by The Australian March 18, 2020) is a subset of
The Universal Error because, rather than focusing on prioritizing jobs, we need to prioritize people.
That is, it needs to be ‘Operation Covid: Save People’ Save Lives before Livelihoods.
Paul Kelly, The Australian, March 25, 2020 writes:
‘The agonising contradiction in our public policy can hardly be comprehended: the government is pumping money to sustain jobs and activity while its health measures throw demand off the cliff and keep consumers in home detention. The economic arm fights the health arm, a contradiction unavoidable yet deeply destructive.’
Yet, The USI delivers us from this ‘contradiction’:
The economy must be Demand-driven [not Supply or Jobs-driven]. That is, no more of the ‘cart-before-the-horse jobs-for-jobs-sake own-goal’ economy; we must transform it into ‘an efficient exclusively demand-driven production of goods and services we desire’ one, which incorporates a Universal Survival Income (USI) such that everyone is efficiently assured of receiving their Personal Survival Income (PSI).
If people are directly prioritized then the jobs and businesses we desire – as opposed to the jobs-for-jobs’-sake own-goal jobs – will indirectly be saved.
If ‘The Stimulus’ is predominantly delivered as a Universal Survival Income, the most needy – including
the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed, the homeless, bush-fire victims, those who have just lost their paid-work or are about to lose it, small business-owners who are living on the cusp and shareholders will all receive valuable income and, via the entire population receiving then spending it, businesses and jobs will be saved.
Many who have had a super-survival standard of living may need to adjust, which is a good thing and will, in the end, most likely, make them happier so there is no need to try and save extravagant lifestyles.
The USI is quick, it is fair, it is efficient and it is unifying – yes, the super-wealthy must also receive it – this is imperative – they are part of society, not some separate superior segment, and all, including them, need to contextualize this truism.
Operation Covid: Save People
The default Social-Security ($190 billion) plus the Covid-19 Stimulus ($189 billion) now exceeds the yearly USI transfer of $350 billion; $18,000 per year for every non-incarcerated in-country adult citizen (18 million) and
$5000 for the guardians of every child (4.5 million); however, whereas the USI is efficient and will, at least double, our prosperity, the Social-Security + Stimulus package has massive dead-weight cost.
Thus, while the government is doing well in difficult novel circumstances, it should be transitioning to The Universal Survival Income, which includes dismantling Centrelink and the associated Jobs Network apparatus; and loosening labour market regulation.
March 25, 2020
Hi
I hope you are well and I hope, in these challenging circumstances, you will overcome anxiety in favour of … Philosophy.
Absurd?
Please, let me explain….
Societal-Opportunity
Societal-Opportunity is not only knocking, it is thundering…
First, in broad terms, society consists of:
- The Elite; and
- The Marginalised who, as well as being a minority – perhaps, 20-30% – are also politically unorganized – though organisations such as the Australian Unemployed Workers Union (AUWU) are an attempt at rectification.
In relatively egalitarian Australia, those who are marginalised, which is a smaller percentage than in many societies, are, in a sense, arguably and paradoxically, marginalized more emphatically.
Meanwhile, the elite are typically favoured with a greater IQ, greater EQ, a more stable background, a wealthier background, a better education, greater family support and greater family expectations – i.e. they have greater opportunity.
In this way, as well as including politicians, business-people, those with inherited wealth and tropical-island-purchasing billionaires, it also includes scientists, economists, journalists, social-service executives, union executives, thinktankists, academics, bureaucrats and other professionals – i.e. it probably includes you.
The elite are a tremendous phenomenon – you are the backbone of our society and a potential treasure for the marginalised.
However, the elite is also comparatively comfortable, extremely insulated and subject to the same rampant self-interest as all humans.
When our societal problems were perceived as being confined to the Socio-Econo- realm, in response to issues such as homelessness, the elite tended to arms’-length ‘calmly’-projected comments of the type, ‘It’s unacceptable; the government needs to release more public-housing.”
But, gradually, environmental issues have been puncturing the Elite/Marginalized separateness.
While it is wonderful the elite’s attention is focusing on our Socio-Econo-Enviro- catastrophes, it should be noted what is particularly galvanizing their attention is the one directly affecting them – i.e. the environment.
After all, who wants to be eating plastic, sucking through a face-mask and being cooked by a heating Earth?
That is, the horrendous Unnecessary Suffering associated with homelessness didn’t cut-through because they aren’t homeless.
Obviously, there is a massive difference between being directly affected and indirectly affected.
Even social-service executives (who, over all, I massively admire), instead of advocating solving poverty once-and-for-all via The Universal Survival Income have, to this point, universally preferred to muddle at the edges and predominantly keep within their funding guidelines though they know matters are exponentially worsening.
You will have heard a chorus call for ‘Raise the Rate’ but have you ever heard even one call for The Universal Basic Income?
Until now, in private, many have justified their public silence on the basis they believe there has been no political chance of getting it implemented – fair enough, … what about now?
Regarding the environment, with our school-striking children screaming at us to do something, suddenly, we had the Summer-from-Hell’s bushfires.
So, while the Socio-Econo- calamities affected only a minority, the Environmental is universal.
Now, via Covid-19, we are impacted by Disease, which is, pandemically, also a universal problem.
This demonstrates that the Universalism of crises is opportunity.
How is it an opportunity?
Because until now, we have been content to fight symptoms rather than getting our hands dirty by digging down into the guts of who nature destines we are and then solving issues at their source.
For this, we need Philosophy.
Philosophy
When not forgotten entirely, the Philosophy discipline is side-lined at best and maligned at worst.
As well as perceiving Philosophy as too difficult, we also think it’s ‘impractical’.
Yet, weren’t the 19th and 20th century’s, respective, most esteemed scientists – Darwin and Einstein – both philosophers?
Nevertheless, currently, all available ‘hard’-intellectual kudos is oligopolized by:
- Scientific-discovery, which increases material understanding; and,
- The adorableness of Technology, which, no matter how clever and elegant, is yet merely an augmenter of our will, which means, currently, it is being thrown at symptoms.
Neither Scientific-discovery nor Technology get to the source of the issue regarding our Socio-Econo-Enviro-Disease problems – for example, solar panels will not solve domestic violence.
However, particularly regarding Technology, elitists tend to feel comfortable – you know, switch from coal-power to wind; combustion-engine to electric – finished.
It justifies Materialism and creates a feel-good mentality as they ‘solve the problem’ while, simultaneously, maintaining their superiority and doubling-down on lecturing.
Thus, mesmerized and trapped by Technology’s neon and convinced they’ve done their bit, few have progressed to considering The Universal Survival Income or societal-systems, let alone, natural-morality.
However, if humanity is to navigate its challenges, the elite must broaden and deepen their thinking.
We must move on – the main game cannot remain whether one is a Climate-Denier or not – both protagonists are as ridiculous as each other; if we must use those types of terms then it must become whether one is a USI-denier or not.
Yet, many of the elite have become drunk on ‘climate-denier’ I-told-you-so hubris.
We have one of our most esteemed news outlets – whose mandate for expert-based journalism, in general, The Citizen Dividend Organisation enthusiastically supports – recently, aggressively announcing we are no longer going to put up with Climate-Denialism – well, good for you; however, what about academics such as Bjorn Lomborg???
In order to progress, we need progressively increasing nuance, which means we should take care not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
This arrogance extends such that the most rampant argument against The Universal Survival Income is that people will waste it – actually, it’s overwhelmingly the rich who waste money and resources, not the poor.
Earlier this month, in response to my question, ‘Is there a possibility we are relying too much on technology rather than societal-systems such as a Universal Basic Income?’, one of Australia’s most senior environmental academics replied “I think it’s dangerous to talk about such a big change when people can’t even get their heads around simple issues”.
To paraphrase him, ‘the solution is dangerous’.
The elite are both our greatest danger and our only hope – we cannot have the tail wagging the dog but the dog needs to humbly relax its jaws and pull-away from their bones of personal-interest and superiority, which is another reason the provision of one’s Personal Survival Income must be universal, and then put society first.
Regarding Philosophy, synonymous with the full gamut of rational thought, it includes the interlink between:
- Science; and,
- Morality.
And, this science-morality link is where our Holy Grail salvation lies – find and get to the bottom of that link then the promise is, not only will it solve our current calamities, it will set human civilization up for the entire millennium.
That is, we must hone our understanding of the link between science and morality and then streamline our societal-systems so they are natural-morality-consistent – i.e. so they ‘maximise the willingness and capacity of citizens to put their society before themselves’.
This is essential because, in nature:
Amongst all lifeforms,
individuals possess and are governed by a Survival/Reproduction-imperative,
which is characterised by
Competition;
however,
Competition
may be maximised via
Cooperation.
That is, the indirect benefit to the individual of Cooperating
may outweigh
the direct benefit of putting itself first.
Cooperative-Competition’s (Coopetition’s) supreme manifestation is Society.
Nature’s default is
‘Individuals putting their Society before themselves’
which is defined here as
‘natural-morality’.
In sentient-animals,
this led to the evolution of trust and empathy.
Trust and empathy are maximized when
people are family and/or familiar
such that
they experience consistently net-positive repeat interaction.
However, human societies
settled
then
grew
such that they became
‘Societies of Strangers’.
Societies of Strangers
cannot rely on the trust developed over time
from consistent person-to-person positive interaction,
which means
its individuals must rely on trust-invoking societal-systems.
Thus, we require societal-systems that:
‘Maximise the willingness and ableness of citizens to put their society before themselves’.
Societal-systems are infrastructure,
which is the realm of
Government.
Thus, we are at the crossroads.
The Crossroads
The choice is stark – we can either continue leading our society off a Socio-Econo-Enviro-Disease (SEED) cliff or we can maximise the alignment of our society with nature.
Regarding the latter, this will be increasingly testing because due to entering the final phase of our culminating exponentiating SEED calamities, which are all just symptoms of underlying natural-morality inconsistent societal-systems, we will increasingly be thrown ‘fires’, which we will be distracted into ‘putting-out’.
For example, a month ago, our attention was focused on bush-fires and now it is on Covid-19 plus shopping mayhem.
[Until we solve the underlying issue, not only expect more of them, but also expect them in increasing magnitude and succession.]
While we certainly need to deal with these symptoms as best we can, since security guards and even police at supermarkets is not a long-term solution to societal decay; overall, the only solution is a Big Picture one of correcting our erroneous societal-systems
And, for this, there is tremendous news.
The Natural-Morality-Correlating Societal-System Solution
2020 is a crucially pivotal year as one of the two extremes is likely to manifest.
Have you noticed many of our politicians’ eyes – both state and federal – possessing ingrained bigger-than-themselves fear?
Have you seen that sort of fear before – an erupting verging-on-panic fear – a fear the challenges about to be faced will be direly uncontrollable?
Their fear is not just for themselves but for all of us.
As a former humanitarian aid worker, I’ve seen it/felt it.
Many of our veterans and emergency services, especially our fire-fighters, along with numerous others in our community, have felt it; however, this is on a global-scale.
What scenarios are the politicians being forced to consider that we, as yet, don’t know?…
Nevertheless, the great news is, the solution, with respect to the underlying societal-systems, is childishly simple – merely put in a USI, which means everyone is taken care of and the economy can become exclusively demand-driven such that all our resources are directed into what we actually want and let the jobs-for-jobs’-sake jobs disappear – philosophically, it is:
Fine-tune our Societal-Systems
such that they
‘Maximize citizens’ willingness and capacity to put society before themselves’.
From a rubber-hits-the-road policy perspective, this means government must solely be concerned with top-down infrastructure:
- Security – i.e. courts, police, prisons and military;
- Natural monopolies – such as ports, roads and rail;
- Merit-based regulation – which promotes merit-based reward and eradicates corruption;
- Market competition regulation – such as corporate law, which promotes transparency, accountability and the flow of information; and,
- Universal Opportunity Infrastructure (UOI).
The Universal Opportunity Infrastructure (UOI) consists of the 4 cornerstones:
- Universal Liberal Democracy;
- Universal Education;
- Universal Healthcare; and,
- Universal Survival Income (USI) of, say, $1,500 per month ($400 for children) paid unconditionally and universally to all citizens provided one is not in jail and not overseas such that all citizens’ possess their Personal Survival Income (PSI).
UOI is both:
- Personal – so, by increasing human capital, citizens can increase their contribution to society; and,
- Inter-relational – so citizens have enough trust to willingly put society before themselves.
However, currently, we have an infrastructural natural-morality violation – i.e. there is no Universal Survival Income (USI).
Thus, with this USI absence, instead of: “Maximizing citizens’ willingness and capacity to put society before themselves”, all citizens are systematically forced to contradict nature’s societal maxim – i.e. we are forced to put ourselves before society until we achieve our Personal Survival Income (PSI).
That is, due to our Survival-Reproduction imperative, one-way or another, we must each obtain our Personal Survival Income (PSI), which means, to that end, under the current USI-absent system, we must put ourselves before society.
Accordingly, this has created the inordinately insidious ‘Personal-Income-Prioritiser Distortion’ (PIPD). [Or, for want of a break in gravity, ‘Pipdy’.]
The Personal-Income-Prioritiser Distortion (PIPD)
The Personal-Income-Prioritiser Distortion is yet another perpetual own-goal, which, this time, herds us into being:
- Survivalists; and/or,
- Materialists.
This Survivalists/Materialists dividing line loosely correlates with the Marginalised/Elite divide.
Regarding Survivalists, if we don’t have our Personal Survival Income then we must focus exclusively on getting it even to the point of crime, which means we necessarily become Survivalists.
[Why was Kumanjayi Walker even a thief? If he had had a non-frictional non-means-tested non-stigmatised USI and an opportunity to contribute to society, I suspect he wouldn’t have been. But, as it stands, one dead, two sets of families ruined and yet another divisional monument between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia.]
Regarding Materialists, they value things more than the direct enjoyment they get from them because, indirectly, there is social-status attached.
Hence, income and, therefore, career are – implausibly yet true – even more social-status important than caring for one’s children. Moreover, unpaid-carers – the most important job in our society – are looked down upon!
That is, due to the PIPD, there is a social-status premium on paid-work over unpaid-work.
No wonder wealthy Materialists love Technology – just buy a gizmo – task completed.
Not only does Technology ownership attract social-status, both their conscience clears and their virtue-signalling further increases their social-status.
Panic-buying is a contemporary symptom of this Personal-Income-Prioritisation self-centredness; however, so is the perennial phenomenon of tax avoidance.
So, which are you – Survivalist, Materialist, both or neither? How much do you crave a promotion, a better car, more cash…?
The crux of this is, though we may have the illusion of free thought, our will and behaviour are moulded by our societal-systems.
Thus, it’s not people who are wrong, it is that they are poorly trained with respect to putting their society before themselves, which predominantly devolves to the lack of a USI system.
Meanwhile, The Personal-Income-Prioritisation Distortion has also created Class-Warfare – i.e. the Elite/Marginalized, Materialists/Survivalists and Paid-work/Non-paid-work divides – which, in turn, has created Identity-Warfare.
Class-Warfare
The reason The Universal Survival Income’s absence does such mindbogglingly enormous damage is because it systemically impacts directly on our Survival/Reproduction-imperative psychology.
That is, The Personal-Income-Prioritiser Distortion has manufactured ‘Income-Sourcing-Stigma’ such that, from day dot, we have been trained – i.e. mind-washed – to think that if one is not in paid-work then one is a sub-citizen – a parasite; a bludger.
Hence, we are mind-washed into distrusting one another and substituting, in place of empathy, a ‘serves-you-right’ response, which leads us to fret about others ‘not getting out of bed in the morning’, ‘becoming lazy’, ‘getting money for nothing’, ‘unable to get off their arse couch-potatoes’, ‘spending it all on drugs’, ‘becoming intergenerational scum’ and, generally, ‘ripping-off us hard-working upstanding people’.
Moreover, currently, this Personal-Income-Prioritisation Distortion (PIPD) is producing a hang-over like no other – i.e. it is causing our Socio-Econo-Enviro- calamities.
The PIPD manufactures many diabolically perverse consequences including:
- Marxism – if a USI had been implemented at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Marx wouldn’t have seen a problem needing solving – imagine a history minus Communism, The Cold War (it wasn’t cold for those living in the numerous proxy warzones) and potential nuclear Apocalypse;
- Macroeconomic (i.e. industry and economy-wide) rather than microeconomic (firm-specific) minimum wages, which has institutionalised massive labour market distortion, which has cascadingly manufactured economic, social and environmental deformities;
- In the absence of the USI, we have created a Safety Net Income (SNI) substitute consisting of minimum wages, Aged Pensions, Disability Pensions, Unemployment Benefits, Student Allowances and a plethora of ever-changing child, family and other payments/subsidies, which, as well as producing economic Dead-Weight-Loss, has created stigma, gaps, means-testing, mistakes and friction;
- A social-status premium on paid-work over unpaid-work, which, in particular, skews us away from nurturing the next generation;
- Materialism, Consumerism and Wealthism whereby citizens place a social-status premium on things over and above the intrinsic utility of the particular good or service;
- Rather than an exclusively demand-driven economy, which ‘efficiently produces the goods and services we desire’, we are exponentiating-down on an environment-destroying partially-supply-driven cart-before-the-horse jobs-for-jobs’-sake own-goal economy; and,
- A massive decimation in society’s glue – i.e. trust – which, manufacturing societal division, has further exacerbated Class-Warfare and led to its progeny of Identity-Warfare; and, lastly but not least,
- A Labour/Liberal power-toggling ‘coalition’ whose respective power bases are the alternate sides of the societally-divided Class-Warfare and Identity-Warfare coin. This ‘divide-and-toggle’ phenomenon is a ‘divide and rule’ perversion.
In this way, The Personal Income-Prioritiser Distortion is the source of all our Socio-Econo-Enviro- calamities – yes, every one of them.
It’s the source of everything from poverty to homelessness to exponentiating increases in mental ill-health and domestic-violence to drug-escapism to the increasing criticism of democracy vis-a-vis authoritarianism to population explosion to habitat destruction to plastic in our oceans to the CO2 admissions crisis and, even, because it’s source is poverty related, to Covid-19.
The Universal Survival Income (USI)
The Universal Survival Income societal-system inherently demonstrates: You are valuable, not just because you may be able to create income for a shareholder by more efficiently producing ice-cream or some such, but because you are:
- Human; and,
- A citizen of society.
In sum, we need The Universal Survival Income so:
- Everyone’s Personal Survival Income is satisfied;
- The source of one’s Personal Survival Income is destigmatized, all gaps are closed, means-testing is vanquished, the capacity for mistakes minimised and friction forgotten;
- Class-warfare is exterminated,
- Trust and human capital are maximized;
- Everyone from the super-wealthy to the former homeless are perpetually reminded they are a part of the same society where citizens’ willingness and capacity to put their society before themselves is maximised; and,
- Contributing via paying tax becomes – because tax is used efficiently and people want to put their society before themselves – a desire rather than a regret.
- Instead of fighting ad-hoc symptoms, we will have put in place the solution to our Perfect-Storm of exponentiating Socio-Econo-Enviro-Disease (SEED) calamities such that the remaining problems will be manageable.
However, USI implementation requires a critical-mass of will because it cannot evolve out of our current Safety Net Income system, which, having taken on a life of its own, has burrowed down into an evolutional cul-de-sac.
The great news is that the solution is:
- Singular – if one thinks a solution is complex, which is the current prevailing view, then one’s ‘solutions’ are only targeting symptoms; and,
- Easy – provided there is the will – which, notwithstanding it is currently being misdirected, there is plenty of – The USI is easily implemented.
The Universulus
With ‘The Stimulus’ a superficial concept left-over from the old (i.e. last week) ‘cart-before-the-horse supply-driven jobs-for-jobs-sake own-goal economy’ paradigm, it should be renamed – perhaps, if people can get their tongue around it, it could be called ‘The Universulus’.
Whatever it is called, it must be a ‘hit two birds with one stone’ phenomenon.
That is, as well as addressing short-term survival, it must also constitute a long-term societal-system restructuring, which addresses our long-term Socio-Econo-Enviro-Disease survival.
Specifically, the missing-link USI should constitute ‘The Stimulus’’ heart.
Notwithstanding the Labour/Liberal Class-Warfare-based power-toggling coalition, there is every reason this should, not only be bipartisan, but across-the-board multi-partisan.
Every single party from the Greens to One Nation should support it because every party’s constitution provides a mandate to wholeheartedly do so.
So, does this argument convince you?
Action?
For many, this argument won’t convince because it’s too philosophical and we would all much prefer a gadget.
However, you are on this list because you are a leader with a sphere of influence.
The Citizen’s Dividend Organisation (CDO) is not attempting to create a bottom-up ‘ra-ra’ movement, it is attempting to influence leaders – the elite – so that they may influence.
Amongst many others, this list includes every state and federal politician (except the handful who have unsubscribed) and every journalist (unless they have unsubscribed or haven’t yet registered on the CDO’s radar) and every social-service leader we have so-far found.
Regarding journalists, this includes the great Nassim Khadem who recently published the following article:
Social-service leaders: I have been to events where some of the most senior of you have bravely and sincerely conceded, ‘the data is telling us that we have made matters worse – i.e. according to the data, if we had done nothing then society would be better off’.
Yet, with opportunity now thundering, you have the power to systemically achieve perpetual benefit.
ACOSS – Australia and The World desperately needs you.
To everyone who reads this email, whatever your social-status societal position, you are needed beyond whatever calling you have thus far ever had.
Why not use some of your social-status-capital for this supremely significant purpose?
As for me – I can’t do it – I don’t have the requisite social-status or power – if I did, I would immediately implement The USI then resume anonymity.
So, if you agree with this philosophy, are interested in contributing to solving humanity’s exponentiating SEED calamities, have some time and are not averse to accepting suggestions then please educate others so we can achieve support for The Universal Survival Income to critical-mass by, at the latest, the end of 2020.
With The USI implemented, we will have demonstrated global leadership in solving the world’s SEED catastrophes.
The Universal Survival Income (USI):
Citizens [one-off and only if needed]: Open MyGov; Associate Bank Account; Log-off.
Treasury: [No means-testing] Press USI transfer button. [Repeat in a fortnight.]
[The Infrastructure already exists only the Decision is Absent.]
Thank you.
Best regards