MSC Magazine | Issue 4 | Summer 2020

Page 20| Missionaries of the Sacred Heart I t would seem that most people would prefer a society based on care rather than profit and yearn for work that serves their higher needs. We need to acknowledge that a hunger for respect, love, generosity and a sense of higher purpose to their lives is something many theo- ries overlook. COVID- 19 has revealed society’s failure to ad- dress the needs of many people. The global market’s vulnerability has been exposed with threats to supply chains, and ruthless competi- tion that disregards its impact on people and the Earth. Despite calls for a return to business as usual, we need to be aware that our well-being de- pends on the well-being of all people and the Earth . We need an economy that meets the needs of people and the Earth’s living systems by moving from profit-maximising corporations to self-organising, self-reliant, life-serving com- munities. We need to use resources that in- crease the well-being of people and nature while eliminating those that consume resources for such things as military spending and finan- cial speculation. Unregulated capitalism has continued to be a failure . For unregulated capitalism, organisa- tions are productive, efficient and rational when maximising money and power. Society needs to be dedicated to the well-being of people and the Earth. The economy, corpora- tions, government policies, legal, education and cultural systems and personal behaviour should be considered rational, productive, and efficient when they actually maximise the ca- pacity to be attuned to social, economic and environmental justice for everyone and where people are seen as intrinsically valuable rather than valued as commodities. The frailty of the social contract has been ex- posed. The concept of a universal income pay- ment available to all citizens, once a fringe idea, is now on the agenda and discussed as ‘absolutely necessary’. The social cost of not introducing such a payment is great and will be paid by society’s more vulnerable mem- bers. Despite objections that we lack the re- sources to fund such an income does not mean such a proposal is impossible. Pope Francis, along with economists, have called for a ‘ universal basic income. ’ In 2018, the UN Secretary General, said that ‘governments may have to consider stronger safety nets and eventually UBI’ in response to job displacements due to automation and arti- ficial intelligence (AI). Pope Francis’ concerns about the market economy, the ‘throwaway’ culture, and hyper-individualism in the global North have been countered by movements among underprivileged and marginalised pop- ulations with a social alternative to the West’s ‘tyranny of money’ that ‘privileges profit and stimulates competition.’ This is not about chari- ty, but justice. A UBI would allow people greater freedom to pursue dignity in work without being forced to merely work for wages. It would prevent or re- duce poverty and increase equality. It would be periodic with regular payments in cash where each individual, not households, re- ceives the payment. All would receive the pay- ment irrespective of need or willingness to work. This would provide for basic needs and even achieve financial stability. The virtues of a UBI are questioned because it may provide an excuse for stopping work and dissolving associated human relationships ra- ther than strengthening social ties. Despite ob- jections about irresponsible spending by the working poor, it has been found that they actu- ally do invest in their future. As countries see this idea as a Covid-19 stimulus, it is a question of when, not if. A UBI SOUNDS LIKE AN IDEALISTIC AND LEFT-WING IDEA, BUT HAS LONG HAD SUPPORT IN RIGHT-WING POLI- TICS AND ECONOMICS. UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME Building a new future Claude Mostowik msc