A Nation of Sloths

I read an article the other day that listed the most dangerous animals as well as the friendliest ones. Alligators, hippos, and water buffalos topped the list of the most aggressive and therefore, most dangerous. Conversely, among the animals that wouldn’t hurt a fly (in most cases) were dolphins, pandas, otters, and sloths.

What do the latter four animals have in common? Two of them spend their days eating and playing and the other two pretty much sleep 24/7.

Especially the sloth.

And that, my friends, is the perfect segue to today’s topic of UBI, otherwise known as Universal Basic Income.

UBI is “all the rage” these days, being pushed by such luminaries as former Secretary of State James Baker, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, podcast host Joe Rogan, current NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Also on board are multiple tech titans and leading entrepreneurs including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page (co-founder of Google), Tim Cook (CEO of Apple), Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter), and Sam Altman (CEO of Open AI).

That’s some kind of clout… and the political power and financial resources to make it happen. Or, at the very least, to make it a front burner issue for years to come.

The driving force behind this push to pay people to sit home on their behinds is artificial intelligence, which is expected to eliminate millions of labor-intensive jobs over the next few decades. The rationale is that it’s not the fault of workers in soon-to-be obsolete sectors of the economy and so, they should be compensated by the federal government (i.e. taxpayers) for their misfortune.

To which I say, hogwash.

I am not saying that I don’t sympathize with hard-working (and unsuspecting) humans who will soon be given a pink slip by their employers, only to be replaced by a robot, a computer, or a new software program. I get it, truly I do. What’s more, I hate it.

But as AI technology continues to outpace our ability to control it, American workers must start planning ahead now so that when the inevitable arrives, they are prepared. That means saving more than you’re spending and if your job is expected to be on the chopping block in the not-too-distant future, getting the necessary training now to make a lateral (or upward) move to a different position.

Back in the 1960s, American economist Milton Friedman proposed a negative income tax which basically meant that workers earning above a certain threshold paid federal income taxes and those below it received a government stipend. I don’t like it, but I suppose I could live with such a system as long as the recipients were working full-time and not sitting at home watching TV and playing video games.

Likewise, I could also go along with a federally subsidized job training program for workers displaced by AI. However, as the Apostle Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat” and so, once you graduate from said program, all work-related federal benefits cease and you’re on your own to fend for yourself.

In other words, put on your big boy pants and report to work, even if it’s not your dream job or you have to moonlight to make ends meet. And yes, I am speaking from personal experience, having worked three jobs simultaneously to put food on the table for a family of five, pay a mortgage, and cover three college tuitions.

As long as an American adult is able-bodied and healthy, he should be required to be a productive member of society. No free lunches and no free rides… period.

Dolphins, otters, and pandas, maybe. But we cannot afford to become a nation of sloths, rewarding indolence in lieu of industry.