RE: What would a legitimate basic income buy?
Tangential to the discussion, but based on the first couple of paragraphs - The agricultural model of feeding one person per acre is based on big industrial ag, not regenerative or even sustainable systems. It's a system that strips the land of nutrients for profit.
The arable lands of the world could easily support 20 billion people, if managed even halfway decently. A family of four can provide enough food for themselves on 1/10 of an acre, plus have enough left over to barter and pay additional bills. And once the system is in place, the labor is constant, but fairly light. This wouldn't include large livestock, such as cattle, obviously. But small goats, ducks, chickens, rabbits, quail, etc., could all be included on a small scale.
More OT
It is difficult to know the value of something you never had to earn. Without knowing the value of something, it is easy to squander resources.
This is central to the discussion, simply based on the human factor in the equation. IMO, the whole concept of attempting to provide for "each according to their basic need" without them producing anything of value (other than perhaps CO2), defeats both the individual and the culture.
Exactly! This is why I believe the market equilibrium of basic income would leave someone well below the poverty line.
The question of whether or not a Basic Income should be implemented hinges upon each individual's subjective estimation of where the equilibrium point would be. Would 1 share be worth $1 or $50 per day?
In my opinion, implementing a currency system in this manner would be worth doing because it would be close enough to "fixed supply" to get all of the desired benefits of a stable currency, it wouldn't be debt based, and it wouldn't transfer wealth unfairly. In aggregate it would also prevent concentration of wealth. So even if everyone only got $1 per day it would still be worth doing.
We have a real life example of this in Zimbabwe... Productive commercial farms were seized and their owners dispossessed. The land was then given to "war veterans" to appease them and buy their vote for the incumbent geriatric "Bob" Mugabe to continue his "elected dictatorship" and presidency for life.
In a short couple of years Zimbabwe went from Africa's "breadbasket" to the "basket-case" of Africa.
Many now migrate to SA just to stop from starving, I have employed many of them...
University graduates working in farmlands at minimum wage just to have something to send back to their starving families back home... they then send physical cash back home because back home, due to hyperinflation, the local currency totally collapsed.
Zim then switched to the USD but because there are no USD's available citizens resort to trust and IOU's to transact. The rich have splendid bank account balances but can do nothing with it as there is no liquidity to draw out cash.
Now many more people have land, the economy has collapsed and very few have food... one more drought and Zimbabwe becomes Ethiopa... dependent on international food aid, when they have some of the most fertile soil in the world but the newly possessed have no knowledge of how to make it work on anything more than a subsistence level and even that is done poorly.
Just wanted to add...
Also - this would depend on the growing methods. Vertical/hydroponic (even aquaponic) growing could reduce the necessary space and resources to achieve the same or better output/quality. A properly managed greenhouse can extend growing seasons as well.
Right. There are a lot of factors, such as climate, latitude, water availability, etc. If you really go vertically, all sorts of game-changers are on the table. I was just speaking basically, at ground level or maybe with some elevated beds. With what you're describing, the sky literally is the limit, even on a postage stamp lot.
just FYI if agriculture is involved you can also go upwards, with astounding effects. (indoor farming)
And even when not, using greenhouses can double or triple production per area even on currently high-intensity farming.