Roope Mokka, co-founder of the independent Nordic think tank Demos Helsinki, believes that a universal basic income provides a springboard for the creation of a new universal monetary system.
In a piece for Slush, he contrasts several arguments put forward by UBI advocates (e.g. as a way to increase employment, as the Finnish government hopes, versus a way to cope with increased un-employment due to technology). He then argues that the potential long-term benefits of a UBI–conceived as a way to usher in even more radical changes to the economy and monetary system–could be even more profound than most supporters have envisioned.
Mokka has written previously on basic income for Demos Helsinki. In one blog post, for example, Mokka describes how Finland’s novel commitment to experimental politics–to testing policies before implementing them, rather than merely speculating about the results–lay behind its ability to experiment with basic income. In another, he compiles the views of five prominent advocates on what basic income should be and why it matters.
Read more:
Roope Mokka (October 16, 2016) “Basic Income Could be the Moonshot of Our Generation” Slush.
Photo by NASA/David Scott, Public Domain.
“Roope Mokka, co-founder of the independent Nordic think tank Demos Helsinki, believes that a universal basic income provides a springboard for the creation of a new universal monetary system.”
Blockchain has been embraced by the banking union[1,2]. I suspect Roope Mokka’s idea will evolve into universal currency, ISDS-based global trade agreements, a universal income tax, universal VAT, universal FTT, numerous new regulations and a universal blockchain monetary authority run by experts appointed by a universal government that has a form like the European Union. Perhaps Jose Barroso can be it’s president and recommend financial experts to help Mario Draghi do ‘whatever it takes’ to stabilize prices, keep interest rates low, and increase speed of HFT while Christine Lagarde steers the IMF to provide more loans to leaders of failing government economies around the world with a single floating-rate currency.
That’s quite different from a nation-based model that funds states, provinces, and cantons, that in turn, fund a federalist government that makes politicians more accountable to local constituencies and uses a form of APT Tax reform[3] on all economic transactions[4] to reduce taxes on productive businesses and productive citizens. An individualized poverty-level tapering income for adult citizens would provide counter-cyclical liquidity to main street during the business cycle while creative destruction takes place.
Unlike Mokka, I believe Obama is shooting for Mars[5].
[1] Blockchain Will Be Used By 15% of Big Banks By 2017 | Fortune Magazine | 2016
[2] Banks adopting blockchain ‘dramatically faster’ than expected: IBM | Reuters | 2016
[3] APT Tax | Youtube
[4] Intraday Liquidity Flows | FRBNY | 2012
[5] President Obama Really Wants People To Live On Mars | NPR | 2016