With the world's economy contracting and unemployment rates over 10% in the United States. The US stock market is sitting at its all-time high despite experiencing a bear market months ago. This shows how uncorrelated the economy is with the stock market and that the stock market no longer reflects with the state of the economy.
Valuable Paper
Money Printing, an Addicting Drug
I find the recent spike in money printing to be disturbing. The government is betting the economy will return to normal levels before people realize their cash is losing its value. At this point, it is all about confidence in the government.
Printing Money Is an Exchange of Value
Money is not printed out of thin air, and many, unfortunately, misunderstood this point. Trust is a value that cannot be bought, as earning people's trust takes time and effort. Governments sell trust for every dollar printed. However, as more are being printed, this sense of trust gets "diluted". The United States' huge economy enables it with the power to print "valued paper" in greater quantities than say, a country like Venezuela. The number is not unlimited, though, and if the current act is continued, it is only a matter of time before the bubble pop.
Positivity Encourage Confidence.
I have to acknowledge brilliant minds are behind this, and their actions are extremely calculated. Do understand they aren't obliged to tell you the truth. As long as people have confidence in the economy, lying, and other forms of deceit such as positive news could be used. Hopefully, you will be able to distinguish what is true and false.
Universal Basic Income
The concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been receiving a considerable amount of attention lately. It seems that in the time of an economic crisis, the government is desperate to come up with whatever policy necessary to keep the economy afloat.
UBI is a default basic income, given to all citizens of the country. Free money. Although this sounds utopic, the idea is not so crazy after you've given it some thought.
Imagine a businessman, "Ross" who is making over $1,000.000 each month while his employee, "Bob" barely rakes in $1000 monthly. The government allocates every citizen in the country, say, $1000 monthly. Ross who is making a high income, couldn't care less about another $1000, while Bob will be enjoying a 100% increase in income. Bob and Ross will still have to pay income taxes with Ross paying nearly 40% of his income in taxes due to his place in a higher tax bracket.
Wealth is distributed this way instead of increasing taxes.
Just Enough to Survive
Taxes decrease the incentive to work hard. You might point out that UBI decreases the incentives too as many might stay unemployed and live on another's hard work, while you are largely correct, a $1000/month isn't enough to buy any luxuries, just enough to keep me alive and kicking. Many research had also claimed people did not stop working after a Universal Basic Income was implemented, but with limited real-world experiments, it is anyone's opinion at this moment. It might be life-changing, or, maybe the idea should stay as an idea.
What are your opinions on this matter? I'll be happy to hear them. >_>
A friendly reminder to rest your eyes and spend some time with your loved ones if you've been surfing the web for too long. Life is short, use your time wisely. :)
