Boston Basic Income #129: Workers vs Consumers

Henry Ford famously insisted on paying his workers enough money to be able to buy the very cars they were producing. But to what extent does that make sense? When is it useful to think of workers and consumers as the same people? Does basic income create a disconnect between these two roles? Is that a problem?

We have two optional readings this week. The first is a 2011 blog post by former labor secretary Robert Reich entitled "Stock Tip: Be Worried. Workers are Consumers"

https://robertreich.org/post/9142270982

The second is a 2012 article on Big Think by David Berreby entitled "When Consumers Forget They're Also Workers, Everyone Suffers"

https://bigthink.com/Mind-Matters/when-consumers-forget-theyre-also-workers-everyone-suffers

Previous related Boston Basic Income topics have included:

https://youtu.be/rrkgEKkjQW8 — BBI #14: Technological Unemployment
https://youtu.be/3h0XqCPtQks — BBI #33: Basic Income vs Job Guarantee
https://youtu.be/yUo_doLnz2c — BBI #56: Workism

You can access the Zoom meeting here:
https://zoom.us/j/402968564

We will start and end the discussion by going around the room to get everyone's opening and closing thoughts.

If you'd like to speak at another time, click the "raise hand" button on the "Participants" tab. Alex will unmute you when it's your turn.

Send Alex a message via Zoom chat to let him know if you'd like to follow up on something specific.

Starting at 7pm, we will make introductions and establish parameters for the discussion. The YouTube live stream will begin at 7:10pm.

The discussion will be streamed live at this URL:
https://www.youtube.com/bostonbasicincome/live

It will also be available in podcast form the following day:
https://anchor.fm/bostonbasicincome

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