Universal Basic Services and Degrowth

The government should pay all citizens a monthly unconditional income, regardless whether they work or not. That is the Universal Basic Income. At the same time, certain services, such as healthcare, education, public transportation, should be free to use by everyone. That is the Universal Basic Services. Both UBI and UBS are policies that are strongly supported by the degrowth movement. If you hear the word degr owth for the first time, check out this link.

For some time researchers thought that UBI and UBS are not compatible, that we should have one but not the other. I think we should have both. Since we discussed UBI in another video, I will focus here on UBS, and explain what is its ultimate purpose.

Healthcare and education should be free. Both healthcare and education are fundamental for a good quality of life. As opposed to luxury yachts, golf courses, jewellery, and almost everything for sale on Amazon or Temu. Healthcare and education are universal needs for all humans, because without them we would not be able to develop our body and intellect to our full natural potential. Capitalism is brainwashing us to believe that we need a market of supply and demand for healthcare and education. This idiotic ideology believes that the market is the only efficient way to provide these services. This is completely wrong. We can have both quality education and healthcare, for free, as long as the incentive is not to make a profit from them, but rather increase the wellbeing of people.

Housing should be a human right. Affordable housing is one of the most contentious topics these days. Rent is too high for tenants. Prices are too high for buyers. Yet, the only solution we hear from governments and capitalists is that we need more housing units. Of course, an increasing population needs more new houses. If we allow the market to build these new houses, the market will keep the prices high, because let us be super honest, there is no real competition on the housing market. As long as houses are being developed by private for-profit corporations, prices will never go down, and we will never afford them. This is why, housing must be a guaranteed human right, outside the market. This can be done in several ways: limit the number of rental units that any individual or firm can own and require the sale of surplus properties, ban the ownership of for-profit housing, expand cooperative housing, and build more housing with public money. Vienna and Singapore offer a model for attractive, high-quality public housing that is enjoyed by 60-80% of the population.

Public transportation should be free. Since moving around is a fundamental right in democratic society, we should recognize that the public transportation should support this fundamental freedom. When you put a price on movement on public roads, you automatically put a price on the freedom of movement. Moving freely on public roads is the best way to reignite the spirit of community, while reducing traffic and pollution from emissions. Of course, public transportation must also be reliable, on time, frequent, and super accessible, to make the need for personal cars obsolete. Do we want to get from point A to point B in ten minutes by bus or train, or do we want to stay stuck in traffic for an hour, while travelling the same distance? It should be an easy choice.

Basic communications should be free. Making basic internet access free, but not for gaming or 4K streaming, can strengthen democracy, but it is not guaranteed to strengthen democracy, if major social media platforms continue to be captured by the incentive to make a profit. The medium is as important as the message, so who controls the platforms is also important. Social media, as carriers of communications, should be transferred under the ownership of the people, and be governed democratically by the people. All algorithms must be common public property.

Energy and water are also essential to human survival and they should be governed as public utilities. A minimum quota of energy and water should be made available for free to all humans, sufficient to meet basic needs. A maximum quota should also be considered so that it discourages waste and extravagant lifestyles. It is simple enough, yet monumentally crucial for maintaining Earth habitable for life into the deep future.

Food should be healthy and produced locally. Industrial agriculture is responsible for a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Since food is as important as energy and water, it should be detached from the imperatives of profit maximization. Subsidizes for industrial meat production can be moved to subsidize local food producers to reduce emissions from transportation. As long as food production is democratized and transferred to a cooperative model, like in the experience of La Via Campesina, we will eliminate food waster and feed all humans properly.

Both UBI and UBS can be paid for from the public purse. With a proper restructuring of public finance, and by taxing the super rich, we will find money to pay for both. In essence, UBI is about the consumption side of economy. UBI unlocks the freedom to be independent from the pressure to having to work for a capitalist in order to make a living. UBS is about the production side of economy. UBS unlocks the freedom to satisfy the basic needs for living, without relying on a salary or an income. In both cases, basic does not mean poor quality. Basic, for both UBI and UBS, means that the lifestyle is decent, and the dignity of all citizens is respected equally. Both UBI and UBS can solve the climate crises if they come as a package, and if they align with the degrowth agenda.

Both UBI and UBS require intervention by the state. It’s a top-down approach. To get them done, we would need to convince politicians to do them. For that we need massive popular pressure, we need people to know about these things. This is why spreading the word is very important. Reforming democracy, by abolishing elections and introduction government selected by lottery would also need to happen at the same time.