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the market leading to falling demand leading to further job losses. Briefly, what is your
prescription for preventing this collapse?
Ultimately, I think we will have to decouple access to an income from the need to have a traditional
job. The easiest way to do this is through some type of basic, guaranteed income scheme. In other
words, everyone would receive an income, and those who have the necessary skills and motivation
(and could find an opportunity) would also be able to generate additional income through work or
entrepreneurship.
In today's political environment, a guaranteed income would probably be disparaged as an extreme
leftist idea or “the welfare state run amok.” However, a guaranteed income is actually a free-market
concept and was supported by conservative economists like Friedrick Hayek and Milton Friedman.
One problem with a guaranteed income is that jobs, of course, provide more than just an income—
work is a way to occupy time and also gives people a sense of purpose. In
The Lights in the Tunnel,
I suggest that we might modify a basic income scheme by incorporating incentives—especially for
education.
For example, suppose we offered everyone a minimal income, but if a person manages to graduate
from high school or pass an equivalency test, he or she will receive a higher income. The same could be
done for higher levels of education, and other incentives such as work in the community could also be
incorporated. The idea would be to maintain a strong incentive for the population to become educated
while at the same time giving consumers access to the income they need to participate in and drive the
economy.
