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A series of opinion pieces on, mostly climate change and related subjects to do with New Zealand.

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Disruptive Technology, Universal income and Pensions.

17/9/2017

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The very fast pace of change in our modern world means that one generation is not going to be the same as the last, as even the last ten years has shown. Planning for the future needs and open mind and a good sense of social awareness.
To get an idea of the changes that are very close to us now I suggest that you watch this video of Tony Seba and reflect on the many social issues that will come from it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b3ttqYDwF0&t=93s&list=FLiUwiBc_bp0xCGnsJ2LL2Tg&index=4
The video portrays some massive changes, many of which are apparent today, which will bring massive disruption to our lives and if we are to avoid massive social unrest we need to be planning for the future with a completely different mindset.

Universal wage.
The election has brought to the surface retirement pensions and the thorny issue of what age to fix it at. We also have the problem of social benefits for illness and unemployment. Lurking around the edges is the idea of the universal wage, so some people are considering changes to our social structure already. For those not familiar with the concept of a Universal Wage here is some text from Wikipedia
Basic income is potentially a much simpler and more transparent welfare system than the one existing in the welfare states around the world today.[11] Instead of having numerous welfare programs, it would simply be one universal unconditional income. This strategy for introducing basic income is controversial because some basic income supporters argue that it should be added to the existing welfare system rather than a replacement for it. 
Many hard working people do not take kindly to some people getting a living and not working, but there are bigger issues at stake and mass unemployment is a distinct possibility and it could lead to political and social instability.
We currently have unemployment rates of around 5% but governments, worldwide are notoriously devious about those figures and hide it with education and retraining plans which, in a way, accepts that there are not enough jobs to employ all those who want to work and so they go for retraining to take them off the unemployment lists.
One of the big advantages of a universal wage is that it takes the pressure off people and they then start using their creative ability to start small enterprises to earn extra money or to do good social or environmental work.
Pensions
​Here are some thoughts on the where we could have a floating retirement age where, you can choose your own retirement date starting from age sixty but the longer you leave it the more you get. The average actuarial age of death is well researched and so the government know how much they will have to pay out to the retired population. If you are a New Zealand male you are going to die (on average) at 79.1 years old. Currently pension is paid from 65 and so there are about 14.1 years of payment at $691.44 a fortnight totalling $253,481.90. If you chose to retire early at 60 you would get 19.1 years of pension and so you would get $510.43 a fortnight. If you had a hard life or illness you might prefer to retire early and make the most of it.
If we can get more people to retire early it will make room for younger people to get jobs.
As mentioned at the beginning there are massive technological social and environmental changes coming and we need to have a very open mind to avoid big social problems.
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    Bob Bingham 

    Occasional blog posts on topical news items concerning the climate.  Please click the RSS feed to receive updates.

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