Part 55 - I have a dream...

Research and polling by Australia's ABC has shown a significant commonality in what people are most concerned with in Australia and it is probably fair to say that this would be similar in most comparable countries.

The most common concerns are:

• Household debt
• Cost of living
• Ageing
• Poverty
• Wealth inequity
• The economy
• Unemployment
• Drug and alcohol abuse and water also figure prominently

Most of the issues are related to money in one way or another and when you take into consideration  the future of work from a perspective of automation and AI then at first glance the outlook appears to be much bleaker.

AI and automation will change the workforce and reduce jobs, that's a given.

But the outlook doesn't have to be negative.

If the government chooses to look at Australia from a realistic view instead of a political one, then we may have a chance of addressing our concerns and turn automation to our advantage.

But when government's main focus is to take us back to a rose coloured 1950's then we're all in strife. 

If we don't have jobs and have to rely on $40 a day, be abused as not wanting to work and have to compete fiercely for those that are available, then "Houston, we have a problem".

And it won't get better.

An aging population will create labour shortages in the short term which will be filled by automation. 

This will produce less jobs and those that are available will require a higher skill set which many people won't have or be able to get through a lack of education or ability. Not everyone has the potential to become highly educated, that's a fact of nature not laziness or lack of application.

We are what we are.

So if you have a go, it doesn't mean that you will get a go, the real world doesn't work that way, it just looks good on a campaign slogan.

So how do we fix this?

Not easily and not quickly but we do need to get the ball rolling by firstly getting engagement from politicians and industry and acceptance of the fact that world is changing rapidly and we need to change with it.

That is probably the biggest hurdle, dragging politicians into the 21st century.

Industry should be easier as they know the impact of technology on their business and that if they don't have customers with money then they don't have a market.

Once people are on board we need to look at the welfare systems and how to change the thinking in this area to reflect reality.

$40 a day wont cut it when we have a large percentage of the population relying on public income to live when there is little prospect of getting a job in the foreseeable future.

Universal basic income has to be an option and the best way of doing that has to be determined in a fair and equable way not by political consideration.

However to do nothing will condemn a large part of the population to a life of poverty and despair.

In a simplistic view we must use technology to produce output faster at lower cost and use the savings to fund UBI, obvious much more involved than that, but the point is we have to get the conversation started.

We can be a prosperous country in the new age and share it for all people not just a few as the time for having our collective heads buried in sand is long past.

If we don't exploit change to our advantage then we will become victims of it.
#votepirate
#BasicIncome