Excellent insights here, Caity.

The thing that has always jumped off the page at me when somebody starts with the “UBI, UBI, RAH RAH RAH!!!” chant is that it’s a latter 21st century solution to an early 21st century problem. It is quite obvious that automation will continue to idle those able to perform at high levels in certain in-demand fields, mostly STEM.

But there is a cascade of solutions to that problem as it evolves; something like a UBI might be an endgame scenario, but we’re in the first quarter of the game here.

Might I suggest, as a logical first step, that we start by legislating a decrease to the work week to 36 hours? Every time you increment the standard work week downward, you increase the quality of life (because people either have more time, or get paid overtime, or both) and you increase job openings.

Let’s take this slow, people.