Daily Times

As the nation comes out of a prolonged holiday-from-work period, the daggers are drawn amongst the political heavyweights. The outlook for agonising dharnas (sit-in) remain manifestly positive, and one can only hope, albeit selfishly, sitting in the capital that the choice of venue is anywhere but Islamabad. The argument that as citizens of Pakistan it is our implicit duty to stand up for what is right can perhaps not be ignored, but in this political milieu going on for years, right has already been substituted with the least wrong. With so much talk about corruption and the end result, in substance, being nothing, the tired and mostly fed-up populace furtively hopes that the issue of the Panama leaks gets concluded, one way or the other, quickly, so that the ruling elite can finally get down to alleviate the suffering of the masses.

While personally I abhor the business of predicting, continuing confrontation could neither be good for the politicians nor for the nation. And nor for the military for that matter, who is most definitely also clueless on how to run this economy. One anecdote before moving forward in relation to predictions made by celebrity anchors and celebrity analysts on talk shows: if you make multiple predictions all the time, the law of averages suggests that one or two might come true, which proves nothing. Undoubtedly, there needs to be a tracking system that tabulates predictions made on news channels together with the percentage eventually proven correct; take a bet, there will at least be new faces on the talk shows, if nothing else.

Last week while discussing Brexit, there was an implicit assertion that no one, including yours truly, in Pakistan was completely aware or prepared of what if any might be the impact of this earth-shaking referendum on Pakistan according to the western gurus. And while the Americans get ready to elect Donald Trump — a very real scenario, considering that the Americans are as smart as the British if not smarter — the repercussions of which event even the western gurus don’t want to take a bet on, Pakistanis may well still be struggling to finalise the ToRs for a commission on the Panama leaks.

“Have you ever noticed when you’re driving that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and going faster than you is a maniac,” quipped comedian George Carlin. But perhaps in the information age, when speed limits have been radically revised upwards, it would be sensible to at least try to follow the maniacs. So while our leadership, during a bit of free time they get from the political circus, proudly increases the budgetary allocation for the Benazir Income Support Programme, and at the same time struggling to create employment opportunities for a growing populace, the developed world is extensively debating the universal basic income.

Ever since the invention of the welfare state by Otto Von Bismarck, the global ruling elite have struggled to find the best fit to maintain the status quo with them in power: healthcare benefits, public sector jobs, pensions, free education, and doling out cash to feed the poor. Obviously, a destitute, starving populace is more than likely to rise up against the powers that be, and hence, no one should go hungry. So what is the solution if technology results in more and more people going jobless? Who feeds them? Again, there is a contrast between them and us; while we struggle to provide our children primary education the ball game has radically changed in the outside world. Automation and technology are endangering jobs in hospitality industry as well; computer-driven taxis and robots acting as waiters would be a death knell for the pseudo middle class in developing nations seeking employment abroad.

Anyway, the solution for more and more people becoming jobless and getting restless is simple: give everybody free money. And for the record, the idea has been in incubation for a while. Martin Luther King said, “I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective — the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.” The concept was being widely discussed in 1967. While most of us living in Pakistan will find the idea absolutely crazy, given that a stipend to meet basic necessities of 200 million people is more than impossible in a budget that can’t even pay for debt servicing and defence costs, a Star Trek moment can perhaps explain it more clearly.

In a galaxy far away where no man has gone before, civilisation has evolved to a point where all manufacturing is automated, and robots completely take care of all services. There are no jobs for mankind except to read mails on smart phones and chat on Whatsapp. Herein, however, lies the catch. With no jobs there are no consumers; nobody has money to buy anything, not even a smart phone. So the solution is to make money, which the central banks can do easily and magically, and give it to everyone for free. This in itself is a remarkable illusion, where the ruling elite print money and give it to everyone, only to take it back in lieu of providing basic necessities, and in the process appear to have more money, which in reality is only paper. Irrespective the rich continue to get richer, at least on paper. Someday, a financial system, raised on paper, more likely than not, will implode.

On the other hand, the above scenario could be a Terminator moment, where the mighty control the machines that control the rest of mankind. Or George Orwell got it wrong by a hundred years, 2084!

Anyway, until earth evolves to that point, which is perhaps a probability, basic income is being propagated as the solution for income inequalities, the epitome of a welfare state. And apparently, experiments are already underway in certain countries in one form or the other; albeit there is an interesting counter argument that should basic income take flight, will it not be true that capitalism is a wolf in sheep clothing, finally emerging as communism? For all you know, a few decades from now, the world might be lamenting the demise of capitalism, and might I add, democracy. After all, don’t they finely blend and go together?

On a lighter note, there is a high probability that basic income would get through the legislators, since politicians sitting in parliament love the concept of something for nothing. The only hitch for them is that in theory, everybody, rich or poor, gets the same amount of periodic stipend, without any attached perquisites, such as a Land Cruiser.

But let the world do what it wants, we tread a different path. We don’t have time for idiots and maniacs; we are busy redefining the principles of democracies and governance with stubborn rhetoric, criticism for the sake of criticism, and all-out chaos. Best of luck, dear readers with the Monday blues tomorrow!

The writer is a chartered accountant based in Islamabad, and can be reached at syed.bakhtiyarkazmi@gmail.com