Citizen Seed Funding empowering generations to come

S2 E26 Citizen Seed Funding: An Investment in Our Future

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the virtues of self-rule and debate the state of our republic. Welcome to the Citizens Prerogative Podcast.

Discussion topics in this episode:

We’re on the hunt for solutions and one or more of the various flavors of universal basic or supplemental income programs looms large. The more that MVP and RWJ look into these ideas, the more water they seem to hold and more potentially beneficial their side effects. They are even coining a new term and tagline for it: Citizen Seed Funding empowering generations to come. This idea aligns with the tenants of Doughnut Economics and is reminiscent of that comment regarding life having the propensity to leave conditions conducive to life. In this regard, seed funding would have the potential to be as restorative and empowering for generations of people in society, just as seeds beget life.

We all deserve freedom. Part of being free is having your own agency to choose. That extends to the capitalist market systems we have in place. People should be empowered to a position of choice when it comes to whether or not to participate, under what conditions, and for how long. Today we’re born into it and have to scramble for better odds (through relationships) and/or leverage (demanded skills), but it’s not how it has to be. People can be born free to choose how and when to participate in the commercial economy. They can use it to serve a need and not become beholden to it. And we will participate in sufficient quantities, because it’s quite lucrative, even with a universal basic or supplemental income feature installed.

How’s it work? It can work a multitude of ways, however for illustrative purposes, here’s what it looks like: The government keeps depositing stimulus checks into people’s accounts who make less than $40,000 USD. That’s it.
How do you pay for it? Again, a multitude of ways, but they should be limited to revenue streams that are not fickle or place an undue burden on economic activity. The easiest places are from wealth, estate transfer, and market activity (buy/sell) taxes. We’ll be diving in more in the future.

Then what? Just wait and see. As people start to become used to the stability of a seed income, they will begin taking new risks. We’ll see new kinds of businesses, art projects, social projects, and communities bloom. People will go to school and re-tool in order to create and sustain new economic opportunities. We’ll see a new economic floor established by sustained consumer spending. Many of our unbanked will open new accounts to receive and spend their funds and many former unbanked may open their own banks. Most importantly, homelessness and hunger will be reduced to a lower level than ever in history. All made possible through the deployment of seed funding.

Do we have to have universal health care for it to work? NO. We do have to have viable healthcare marketplaces where people can ensure they use some seed funds for coverage. They may be eligible for additional assistance through state Medicaid programs without affecting the amount of seed funding received. Likewise, seed funding would have no bearing on qualification for other programs like Pell grants, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Disability, alimony, etc.

Call to Action: Keep an eye out for all of the valuable activity that is currently unpaid. These are of the many things humans do without a financial motive. As a species, some behaviors are intrinsically motivated. Our very nature compels us to do things, not to be idle. Raising children is no small feat and we shortcut it drastically today due to “work-life” balance or single-parent households. Caring for our wise elders is another responsibility that requires a modicum of fortitude and today is mostly outsourced to the lowest bidder. Our time in those roles is valuable outside of and in support of the economy. Now imagine sustaining those human investments minus the financial stress of boom and bust. An improvement, no?

Minor notes: This is episode 26 despite MVP calling it 27 during the episode. Also, the term he was looking for was “Performance Art” in reference to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

The History of the Monopoly is a nice synopsis of the genesis of the game including a feature on The Landlord’s Game (same page), upon which it is based. One notable is the fact that the original (by Elizabeth Magie cira 1902, patented in 1904) featured two different set of rules: Monopoly and Anti-Monopoly and it was intended as a teaching tool to juxtaposition progressive policies against the lazie-fair status quo.

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Intro music sampled from “Okay Class” by Ozzy Jock under creative commons license through freemusicarchive.org.
Other music provided royalty-free through Fesliyan Studios Inc.

Image: Future Worker Lifecycle by Citizen Do Good.