Page 26 - AdminAdvantage__September_October_2021

WORKSMART
come from groups of people who would normally
have diametrically opposed political views.
For example, one of the best known modern
proponents of UBI is Andrew Yang, an American
tech entrepreneur who recently ran to be the
Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential
election, while on the other side of the political
divide, support for UBI has come from the
neoliberal economist Milton Friedman, and the
political scientist Charles Murray, whose views
on the issue of race relations could generously
be described as ‘controversial’.
It is also worth noting that the American state
of Alaska, which is heavily conservative, has
had a form of UBI since 1982. Every year,
residents of Alaska receive up to $2000 simply
for living there, with barely any conditions
attached. What’s more, studies have shown that
Alaska’s UBI program has helped to wipe out
extreme poverty in the state, without increasing
unemployment.
RELEASING THE SHACKLES
The relative merits of UBI, and how it should be
implemented, are issues which require serious
studying and many more words of explanation
than I am afforded for this article, but there is
one more point which is vital to understand
in the context of UBI and how it may affect
business in the 2050s.
Consider for a second how many frustrated
entrepreneurs you know. How many people
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in your life would love to start a business if
only they weren’t so beholden to the everyday
pressures of working long hours to pay the bills
and support their families?
If by the 2050s, UBI has been successfully
implemented in a number of countries, how
many people across the world would have been
able to use the extra freedoms afforded to them
in terms of both time and finances, to start
businesses and pursue their true calling?
With some of the pressure to pay household
bills and expenses relieved, how many bold new
services and groundbreaking products would be
developed by skilled and educated individuals,
who all of a sudden had more time to work on
their passion projects?
THE FUTURE IS YOURS
Whatever your views are on any of the ideas I’ve
presented in this article, it’s worth remembering
that nothing is inevitable, and that the world
of the 2050s will be shaped by the actions and
desires of ordinary people, all across the world.
As Abraham Lincoln said, ‘the best way to predict
the future is to create it.’
This article was produced by Alex Belsey
of New Frontiers Marketing
www.newfrontiersmarketing.com/content