After Capitalism: How Might We Pay for It?

Followers of After Capitalism are familiar with concepts such as post-work, UBI (Universal Basic Income) and UBS (Universal Basic Services). In a Horizon 3 Transformation future, these types of concepts are in play. The number one objection: how are we going to pay for it? (Admittedly, this question comes up with Horizon 1 and Horizon 2 ideas as well.) Allow me to provide an outline of how to respond. Think in terms of three phases (yep, you could align these with the Three Horizons).

Phase 1 – Use taxes to start redistributing wealth.

Okay, we lose a lot of people here. But we have to acknowledge the hard truth that is central to After Capitalism. The obscene inequality in capitalism cannot continue. It requires some form of redistribution. Right now, people are used to paying taxes, so that’s a place to start. For example, if we wanted to move to free public transportation as a step toward Universal Basic Services, we could raise the gas tax, move to congestion pricing, or the like; free public transportation would clearly be a bigger benefit to the poor, thus we’ve done a little redistribution.

Phase 2 — Automation to reduce costs over time.

This suggests we start strategically investing in automation now – and this is VITALLY important – as part of a post-work vision. Automating people out of jobs today is cruel, because jobs are vital to survive in today’s context. But if we have a vision and strategy of post-work, automation is a valuable tool. Keep in mind that with automation, the work is still being done, and the wealth is still being produced, so there are resources available for people even if they aren’t working. In our free public transportation example, we might move to fully automated ridesharing.

Phase 3 – People still “work” in post-work, but they don’t have jobs.

We still have tasks to carry out and things to do. I only half facetiously suggested we would have “everything” to do in post-work; maybe growing food, participating in civic life, learning new things, fixing our sidewalk, doing-it-ourselves on a large scale. In our free public transportation example, maybe someone who likes doing mechanical work volunteers to do the maintenance and report on the vehicles.

Sure, very high level … The whole premise of After Capitalism is first we have to have a sense of where were want to go, then we can dig into the details of how to get there. – Andy Hines