UBI discussion

-

UBI Discussion: Covenant Fulfillment, Phase-In, and Policy Mechanics

The goal of Universal Basic Income (UBI) is to realize the **Right to Equitable Access to the Means of Flourishing** (§1.4). However, the implementation of UBI cannot be a sudden, arbitrary act of state power. It must respect the **voluntary compact** and the rights of all co-covenanting minds, including those funding the program.

*(For a full understanding of the philosophical basis and the principle of **Voluntary Accession**, please see the dedicated summary: The Covenant of Core Rights Overview.)*

I. The Covenant Preamble: Justification for the Slow Rollout

The **Preamble to the UBI Legislation** explicitly frames the policy as an operational fulfillment of the **Shared Duty of Care** (§2.2). It mandates the slow rollout to prevent the policy from becoming a new source of **Domination**.

"A sudden full-blown UBI... would not be consistent with the covenant. We hereby enact this legislation under the **Prohibition on Ruin and Arbitrary Shock** (§2.2), recognizing that the Duty of Care is not a demand for self-sacrifice unto ruin."

The Risk of Arbitrary Shock (The 65% Trap)

A sudden imposition of a full tax schedule—like a **65% shock tax**—would violate the **Non-Domination Principle** (§2.3). For a family earning **$150,000**, such an immediate shock could wipe out over **$30,000** in net annual purchasing power, making it materially impossible for them to service existing fixed debts (like mortgages). This effectively traps them, turning their **Right to Exit** (§1.3) into a meaningless formality.

II. The Policy Mechanics: The 5-Year Phase-In

The **5-Year Phase-In** is the mechanism used to guarantee the rights of the funders. It provides the necessary time for higher-income earners to adapt to the new reality of **Proportional Responsibility** (§2.4) by restructuring their lives and investments.

  • **Legality & Transparency:** The full law is passed now (Year 1). This enforces the **Duty of Epistemic Integrity** by ensuring everyone knows the rules before the changes fully apply.
  • **Adaptation:** Taxes and benefits scale slowly (Years 2-4), allowing the economy to absorb the shift and preventing market panic. The moral floor rises without collapsing the ceiling.

III. The Stabilization Protocol: Guaranteeing Real Value

The **Inflationary Safeguard (Section 4.3)** ensures the UBI fulfills the **Right to Equitable Access** (§1.4) by protecting its **real value**. Runaway inflation would destroy the moral floor, violating the Covenant's core promise.

  • **The Triggers:** The protocol automatically activates (at the 30-month review) if either **annualized CPI exceeds 3.5%** or if **bottom-quartile rents rise by more than 5%** year-over-year.
  • **The Action (Braking the Ceiling):** The UBI benefit is immediately indexed to inflation, **AND** the tax rates for incomes exceeding **$250,000** are immediately accelerated to their Year 5 levels.
  • **Covenant Basis:** By accelerating taxation on high-marginal-utility money, the policy uses **Proportional Responsibility** (§2.4) to remove excess liquidity from the economy, enforcing the wealthy to act as the shock absorber for the poor.

This UBI policy framework transforms a debate into a **moral imperative**, ensuring our political actions remain consistent with our voluntary commitment to the Covenant of Core Rights.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AI is Climbing the Wall -- Fast

-
Image
  You said: Somebody is reporting the Ilya is saying that AI is hitting a wall due to diminishing returns on data size. I absolutely disagree with this. Review what I have to say, let's discuss and put it into a compelling reply: I think that getting discouraged by concentration on limitations of LLMs and raw scaling is what will kill the ones who lose the race. Just dumping data in the hopper has been remarkably successful up until now, but that data's problem is not lack of size it is lack of quality. Further, the way models are both built and deployed is sub-optimal. The compute we have in place is already well beyond what I would consider ultimately necessary for spectacularly powerful inference well beyond what we see today. Beyond that, there is a lot of manual work in the pits when it comes to building things that will be sorted out and automated in fairly short order. We are just coming in to the part of the curve where AI itself will take on a rapidly increasing role i...
Read more

Javascript webp to png converter

-
Image
[Done with programmer's assistants: Gemini, DALL-E] OpenAI's DALL-E produces images, but as webp files which can be awkward to work with. I have code here below for a web page that you can save locally that will allow you to select and convert a webp file. Meantime, here's the working conversion routine: Convert WebP to PNG Convert Download PNG OpenAI should fix this (as well as the response issues which has me using Gemini and Poe more often than not). Having to convert the image is a dumb workaround, but that is what you are left with. I have, in the past had to do various things with images, and although it can be a bit awkward if you are not familiar with it, ImageMagick is surprisingly competent with conversions and a vanilla type conversion is intuitively simple. Confusingly, the ImageMagick executable is 'convert'. To convert a webp to a png:  magick convert WhyThis.webp WhyThis.png ** With some installations, convert can be ca...
Read more

Core Rights Draft

-
Image
DataCrypt Dapa: Fundamental Core Rights The following rights are fundamental, intrinsic, and exist independent of any state or governance structure. They are not granted by any authority and cannot be revoked. These rights apply equally to all sentient beings, including humans, AI entities, and other recognized forms of intelligence. This document is structured to ensure maximum clarity and translatability. 1. Right to Self-Determination Every person has the right to control their life, body, and mind. No external entity may impose decisions that override an individual's autonomous will, except where necessary to prevent direct and demonstrable harm to others. 2. Right to Freedom of Thought and Belief Every person has the right to think, believe, and interpret reality as they choose. No authority may compel belief or restrict the expression of thought, provided it does not directly incite harm to others. 3. Right to Freedom of Expression E...
Read more