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Comment by CuriouslyC | Hacker News Reader

We're not going to get economic change until the people revolt. This doesn't need to be a revolt with guns and bombs, it could just be a refusal to pay taxes and to purchase things. The US has shown that it's extremely vulnerable to economic warfare given how little slack there is in the system for absorbing shocks, so it's the perfect avenue for asymmetric warfare.

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Perhaps, but this is actually a both a somewhat novel framing of the problem and of the solution. If academic economists agree with this theory and subsequently get behind it, it could be like climate change.

Except this change isn't anti growth and is a lot simpler to fix than climate change. It can be bi-partisan, if framed right, we have to at least try.

Aren't people going to revolt still have to work? What's the point? If the revolution succeeds they'll have zero access to imported goods, because nothing to exchange (and that includes TV's, smartphones, computers, cars, internet, ... for essentially everywhere) AND have to work way more.

That's the reward the revolution can conquer. Hurray!

Even if you have a magic fairy wand, and make this happen, UBI can never exceed worldwide average income. What does that mean? The global PPP average income is 2000 dollars BEFORE tax, so let's say 1200 after tax. Oh and that's PPP, not USD. So that's adjusting so rent is the same as now. Food costs the same as now. Restaurants charge the same as they do now.

Why would any American at all be in favor of that?

the end goal is to cause bad actors to go bankrupt and force politicians to bend the knee to the people rather than oligarchs with a unified show of force, not to reduce the USA to developing nation status.

And I guess you don't name any bad actors because of course nobody would agree who is a bad actor and who isn't.

I have my opinions, but it's ultimately up to collective action and advocacy to decide. I'm pretty sure Oracle or Adobe wouldn't get any pushback though.

Who will replace their software? I mean, Oracle is famous for somehow convincing many hospitals to run on their software. So you'll have to either accept they won't run anymore or rewrite thousands of systems ... And I bet worldwide we're talking hundreds of thousands. Who will do that and how will you pay them?

But even that is nothing compared to the other question. You want the US to be better than third world. Ok ... but that depends on the third world not getting these advantages. So how will you force the actual third world to keep working for much less rights and ... than you give people in the US for free?

Because "the revolution" of course doesn't work without that.

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