There's a new class war brewing, that between employed and unemployed.

Sarah O’Connor, discussing the challenges of the Gig economy writes, “Offering employment benefits to drivers might well help to snap up the best workers and hang on to them. But if customers were not to shoulder the cost, investors would have to.”“Uber and Lyft’s valuations expose the gig economy to fresh scrutiny” January 2.

Sir, to that we must add that if the investors were neither willing to shoulder that cost, then the gig workers would have to do so, or risk losing their job opportunities.

That conundrum illustrates clearly the need for an unconditional universal basic income. Increasing minimum wages or offering other kind of benefits only raises the bar at which jobs can be created, while an UBI works like a step stool making it easier for anyone to reach up to whatever jobs are available.

Sarah O’Connor also mentions how a collective agreement was negotiated between a Danish gig economy company and a union. Great, but let us not forget that in the brewing class-war between employed and unemployed, the unions only represent the employed… and we do need decent and worthy unemployments too, before social order breaks down.

PS. There's another not yet sufficiently recognized neo-class-war too. That between those who have houses as investment assets and those who want houses as homes.

@PerKurowski

A Universal Basic Income would allow many at least some human time, so as not having to be full time androids.

Sir, Leslie Hook writes about Uber drivers having to work 24 hours a day, and feeling like androids, “FT Big Read. Uber: The view from the driving seat” October 5.

I have talked with many young bankers and heard they also, just like Uber drivers, feel a bit like androids; having just to automatically fill in many pre-ordained formulas, mostly just in order to reduce bank equity requirements, and never ever getting the chance of that so fulfilling opportunity of asking a client, “What do you intend to do with the money?” and thereafter deciding on whether recommend the credit or not to their superior.

But what can we do about it? Perhaps a Universal Basic Income would at least allow us to be half-time androids and half time humans.

What comes thru loud and clear from the article though is that we need lots of Uber and Lyft competing for our android services. Imagine being an android and having to serve a not too intelligent high-tech monopoly? That has to be as bad as it gets… sort of.

And of course we need new bank regulators.

@PerKurowski