Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson have all recently supported the idea of a universal basic income, which amounts to giving away free money to everyone. Many people think that, with automation coming in the next few decades, so many jobs will be lost that government will have to do something drastic. But paying every American $12,000 per year — the U.S. poverty line for an individual — would cost the government trillions.
Pumping more dollars every year into the economy is a solution?
Over 35 years ago, I stood in an unemployment line. I was just out of college and I owed the government over $40,000 and I couldn't get a job. I looked around at the other people in that place and I told myself I had to get out of there. It was a risk I had to take. Why?
If someone is a taker rather than a maker, and becomes dependent on the government for their unemployment checks, that creates a victim mentality. I decided right then and there that I didn't want someone to give me a fish; I needed to be taught how to fish.
