The Basic Income ship has already sailed, and it's not coming back any time soon. The main reason for this is the fact that automation is here to stay. Every day new systems are being automated, first replacing low-skilled, low-wage jobs. People in these job don't really have much power, knowledge, will nor money to push the BIG agenda. Often times, they are not even aware that such thing is being proposed. People in better paying jobs are also being slowly replaced, but they rarely see this as threat to their jobs, but more like productivity improvement.
When some tradesmen, or engineer loses a job because of automation, they first try to work on their skills to stay relevant in the field. They usually won't blame automation for being unemployed, but instead they blame their age, lack of specific new skills, outsourcing or the economy. Without a well paying job, they quickly drop from the affluent middle class to a poor low class. In the mean time, their peers don't see what the real reason for this is, and they happily continue working, hoping that it's not going to happen in their case. They have no incentives to support BIG as they already believe that a lot of taxes go to support the lower classes, and put unfair strain on them.
This shift from middle to low class, is already happening. To keep themselves safe, the high middle class, and the 1%'s will support militarization of police, and push even more entertainment options to the masses. People will rarely revolt, as it's easy to imagine that if you're a father and see your kids starving, you will either work even harder trying to support your family, or you'll drink, do drugs and abuse the kids because you may feel that you failed, and you will try to hide this feeling not only from them but from yourself.
When some tradesmen, or engineer loses a job because of automation, they first try to work on their skills to stay relevant in the field. They usually won't blame automation for being unemployed, but instead they blame their age, lack of specific new skills, outsourcing or the economy. Without a well paying job, they quickly drop from the affluent middle class to a poor low class. In the mean time, their peers don't see what the real reason for this is, and they happily continue working, hoping that it's not going to happen in their case. They have no incentives to support BIG as they already believe that a lot of taxes go to support the lower classes, and put unfair strain on them.
This shift from middle to low class, is already happening. To keep themselves safe, the high middle class, and the 1%'s will support militarization of police, and push even more entertainment options to the masses. People will rarely revolt, as it's easy to imagine that if you're a father and see your kids starving, you will either work even harder trying to support your family, or you'll drink, do drugs and abuse the kids because you may feel that you failed, and you will try to hide this feeling not only from them but from yourself.