Tech demons are hammering us with Sweet and Sour sides of an argument.
The Sour tech demons, aided by Philosopher MacAskill, tell us straight out that we must lose our jobs and die for the good of future generations. We must be exterminated because we are non-self-aware inanimate objects. After we have been disinfected from the Planet, Altman and his self-aware clean robots can occupy the Planet with no stinky meat objects underfoot.
The Sweet pitchmen (eg Andrew Yang) tell us that we will be gloriously happy with no jobs because Universal Basic Income will free us to do the joyously creative hobbies that rich fuckheads do with their time, like evading taxes and slaughtering peasants.
New thought: Political shitheads used to spout the Yang line from a different angle. The Tocqueville quote about Voting Largesse From The Public Treasury is crap. It might have LOOKED true in the 1840s before anyone had TRIED it, but after it was TRIED it was disproved.
I debunked it conclusively in 2017. People do not want income without jobs. People want to work for pay. Every living thing wants to do its duty, wants to be useful. When welfare is an important issue in an election, people vote AGAINST it.
= = = = = REHASH FROM 2017:
If there’s any correlation in this area, it’s not Welfare = Votes, it’s Jobs = Votes. Let’s run back a few decades.
Roosevelt didn’t provide welfare. He provided USEFUL WORK with pay. He got re-elected three times, and probably could have served forever if he had lived forever.
Truman first term: No new welfare, but hugely increased prosperity. Narrowly re-elected.
Truman second term: Big addition to Social Security. Doubled benefits for most, added 10 million people to eligibility. Didn’t help Stevenson in ’52.
Ike first term: No new welfare; jobs plentiful; re-elected.
Ike second term: No welfare; jobs lost in recession; defeated.
JFK: No welfare; jobs gained; Dems re-elected in ’64.
LBJ added Medicare, a vast new piece of WELFARE, along with big urban welfare programs, but didn’t add any jobs. Dems lost in ’68.
Nixon’s first term: No new welfare, lots of jobs. Re-elected.
Nixon’s second term: Added EITC, a vast new welfare program. Oil shock lost jobs. Reps defeated. (Of course a whole lot of other shit happened to Nixon, so this variable probably didn’t matter.)
Carter: No new welfare, big job loss. Defeated.
Reagan: No new welfare, big job gain. Re-elected twice. (Bush The Father was fraudulently portrayed as a continuation of Reagan.)
Bush The Father: No new welfare, job loss. Defeated.
Clinton first term: Best test of the variables. Actually REMOVED a major welfare program at end of first term, required welfare recipients to take jobs. Didn’t even provide the jobs as FDR had done; the booming economy provided the jobs. Re-elected.
Clinton second term: Dot-com bust. Defeated.
Bush The Son first term: Added Medicare Part D, which nobody wanted. Strong jobs. Re-elected. (Other shit happened, overpowering these variables.)
Bush The Son second term: No new welfare, huge job loss. Defeated.
Obama’s first term: Might be the only exception to the rule. Terrible job record, brought back the welfare program that Clinton had canceled. Re-elected.
2016: We have a tremendous bloc of former workers who have given up on the world of work entirely. By the 47% Largesse Rule, these folks should be HAPPY with welfare and disability. Before the election I heard Repooflican yappers saying this explicitly. Are they happy? FUCK NO. They are overdosing and jumping from bridges. They voted for Trump, knowing that he’s a shallow faker and possibly a Deepstate mole, but NEEDING TO SEND A MESSAGE THAT WELFARE IS NOT A HAPPY PLACE.
= = = = =
Overall, it’s an imperfect but pretty decent correlation. People don’t want welfare, they want to work. Maybe Obama has changed the rule, but more likely it was overpowered by other factors. When one party is pushing an unpopular program like Romneycare, the other party shouldn’t run the FUCKING AUTHOR OF THE FUCKING UNPOPULAR PROGRAM against the IMPLEMENTER of the unpopular program. Makes no fucking sense.
Polistra's Mill 