Category Archives: Writing

The global adult non-working population today exceeded the employed population for the first time, to the chagrin of professional economists and the jubilation of the post-work set. The proliferation of non-governmental UBI schemes (N-Goobies as they’ve been pejoratively monikered by the conservative press) and the rise of the Human Efficiency Metric (HEM) as a key indicator of organizational effectiveness have converged to make “Artist” and “Layabout” the fastest growing professions (the latter term was enshrined in legislation during the most recent Republican dual majority Congress). And in spite of the elimination of government assistance of all kinds for both of these designations, the annual average “income” for both artists and layabouts has exceeded the median for the last three years running. Much has been made of Thomas Piketty’s decades-old insight that the growth attributable to capital is greater than the growth of economies, one of foundational tenets of the Working Capital movement. Capital and robots are now the primary tools of the new rentier class, and even when humans are in the loop at the organizations owned by the NG-UBI holding companies, they don’t work any more than fifteen hours in a week. There are of course companies that continue to run on the late 20th century model, with 40+ hour weeks and exchange or privately traded equity, but the equity markets have shrunk by 30% in the last two years alone as more companies de-list after being acquired by NG-UBIs. European governments appear concerned that the role of the state is being upstaged, while the American system of corporate personhood has proved fertile soil for NG-UBI companies to defeat shareholder lawsuits and strike the legislation from states that remain in the thrall of moneyed Republicans; the still-conservative Supreme Court and the Delaware Chancery Court have been clear: NG-UBIs are companies, plain and simple. Local governments are reporting a surge of interest in city planning, clean air, and green spaces, as citizens re-discover their local communities. Church membership has soared. This story continues to unfold as the global system is turned inside out.