Mark Zuckerberg again defends government giving people free money
Mark Zuckerberg again defends government giving people
free money
Zuckerberg explains how a form of universal basic income
works in Alaska.
He doesn't address Alaska's deficits, however, and the
governor's call to increase taxes.
He also uses his company as grounds to argue in favor of
basic income for individuals.
By Todd Haselton July 5, 2017 6 Hours Ago CNBC.com
Following a trip to Alaska, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
recently wrote a blog post defending — yet again — the idea of establishing a
form of basic income in the U.S.
Zuckerberg said he supported Alaska's Permanent Fund
Dividend, which pools money from the state's oil revenue and returns it to
residents at the end of the year. In 2016, that dividend amounted to $1,022 per
eligible resident.
He used his experience at Facebook to explain how the
economics of human condition can change for the better if people are given a
basic income to live off, such as the Permanent Fund Dividend in Alaska.
"Seeing how Alaska put this dividend in place
reminded me of a lesson I learned early at Facebook: organizations think
profoundly differently when they're profitable than when they're in debt,"
Zuckerberg wrote. "When you're losing money, your mentality is largely
about survival. But when you're profitable, you're confident about your future
and you look for opportunities to invest and grow further. Alaska's economy has
historically created this winning mentality, which has led to this basic
income. That may be a lesson for the rest of the country as well."
Whether humans act the same as organizations is up for
debate. Does giving someone free money each year really brighten the future and
compel people to look for opportunities to invest and grow further, or does it
make them lazier and less likely to seek additional income?
Also, the Alaska model depends on the government assuming
some measure of stable and consistent revenue — hard to do when the source of
revenue is a globally traded commodity. Thus, while Alaska's oil has put money
in the pockets of its residents, recent severe declines in oil prices have also
led to discussions of state tax increases. In December 2015, for example, as Alaska
faced a $3.5 billion deficit, Gov. Bill Walker suggested boosting taxes unless
oil hit $110 a barrel. The price of oil per barrel is currently trading at less
than half of that.
Zuckerberg's post followed a speech at Harvard in May,
where he initially argued for a form of basic income in the United States.
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