Automation concentrates wealth in the hands of capital owners. Universal High Income alone can’t fix this. Broad-based robot ownership reconnects income with production and makes automation-driven prosperity sustainable.

<p><strong>Universal High Income and the Automation Age: People Should Own the Robots That Replace Them</strong></p><p>Automation and AI are accelerating, eliminating traditional jobs across a 170‑million‑person workforce. The core question is no longer whether Universal High Income is desirable, but how it can function without destabilizing the economy.</p><p>A high-level Universal High Income could cost $5–6 trillion annually — nearly doubling the federal budget. Cash transfers alone risk fueling consumption without production, leading to inflation rather than prosperity.</p><h3><strong>The Core Problem: Who Owns the Machines?</strong></h3><p>When automation replaces workers, output doesn’t vanish — it concentrates. Factories still produce, warehouses still ship, software still runs. But the gains flow to whoever owns the machines.</p><p>Today, that ownership is held by a small number of large companies.</p><p>Universal High Income redistributes income, but <strong>not ownership</strong>. In a machine-driven economy, ownership is the real leverage. Broad-based robot ownership could align income with production and create a sustainable economic loop instead of a fragile transfer system.</p><!--EndFragment-->
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