Some of us were talking recently about money and the deep desire for interdependent community. Like many, we hope that the pandemic will lead to profound changes in the mainstream economy. We’re particularly supportive of Universal Basic Income (UBI), where we the people provide everyone a stipend that helps meet basic needs. (There’s a great article here outlining UBI in more detail - including helpful responses to typical criticisms.)
Universal Basic Income will have many positive impacts: mutual suspicion will decrease; the myth of scarcity will have a harder time finding purchase when people’s basic material needs are substantially met; and just think of the creativity that could be unleashed when people aren’t so worried about rent or food and can, instead, pursue vocations whose value derives from more than just the money it “produces”.
But we don’t have to wait for UBI before we can free ourselves from the tyranny of scarcity. With or without UBI, the truest shelter comes in the form of the stories we tell, and the people with whom we share our needs and gifts.
The mainstream economy has always existed alongside at least two other economies - domestic work (aka "housework" - the vast majority of which is unpaid and still usually done by women), and the sharing of gifts and needs in networks ranging from extended families to faith communities to friendship cohorts and, yes, the folks who live next door.
Alongside Universal Basic Income we need Universal Basic Community, because where relationships are whole, and interdependent networks of sharing and gifting exist, there is no poverty: neither of material things, nor imagination, nor healing.
The Porch seeks to help nurture such a community. Thank you for being part of it.
