i saw some tweets about the new scottish parliament being potentially pro-UBI, and i have some thoughts about UBI and "'fuck-you' funds". a brief thread?

*pardon the cuss, not my term but it works.

all thru high school and after, I used to help this sweet little old lady with her gardening. She was a retired curator, and became something of a mentor. She was happily married for decades, but her husband had passed away a few years prior and she couldn't do all the weeding.

when I got engaged, I moved back in with my parents for a few months whilst we sorted visa paperwork/logistics for permanently emigrating (a *nightmare*), and on my first night back in town, I bumped into Mrs O at a gala (long story).

I offered to come round and help her winter her garden. After a few hours, she called me in for tea. And I sat down, and this mild, 90-something Southern belle proceeded to ask me, point blank, if i had a fuck-you fund.

I was unfamiliar with this term.

She clarified: "you know. Money that your husband can't touch. A bank account that ain't joint, cash that he doesn't know where it's hidden."

I was like.... "well yeah I do? But i don't think I'll need it, he's not like that."

She responded, and she was right: "nobody ever thinks their person is like that, right up until it's way too late".

"But anyways," she continued, "the point isn't actually whether or not he's abusive. The point is, do you have an escape route."

Do you have, at all times, a way to leave?

Because, if you do, if you have the possibility of leaving- then staying is a choice. And whatever choice you make, to stay or to leave- is a *decision*.

and it's not just about abuse.

How many people stay in a relationship where there's no abuse- no hitting, no shouting, no aggression or mistreatment- but they just don't want to be there?

How many people stay where they are unhappy, when they know the grass is greener, because they don't have a way out?

If you always leave yourself a way out, then you can truly weigh the benefits and downsides of a situation, and decide whether or not to stay somewhere that may or may not be harmful, but also may or may not be fulfilling.

Universal Basic Income is a fuck-you fund.

Look at what's happening as food-service in the USA re-opens. Dozens of business owners, who got by paying their workers less than minimum wage, with no benefits or breaks, are complaining that, due to the stimulus cheques, workers aren't coming back.

Yeah. They aren't. Because those jobs were, at best, not fulfilling, and at worst, actively harmful.

That stimulus provided just enough of a breather, just enough of an escape route, for a lot of people to get out and start over.

Plenty of people DID go back. The coffee shop I used to work at, with one of the best bosses I've ever had in my life? All of their employees returned. It's a fulfilling job.

Another restaurant I used to work at hasn't reopened yet, due to staff shortage. I'm 0% surprised.

And I suspect, strongly, that this is the real reason so many upper-class, wealthy voters/business owners/whatever are against UBI.

It's not because they don't need it.

It's because they recognise that it will give others the tools, the escape route, to leave.

And that IS abusive.

See, my husband knows about my fuck-you fund. I've got a wee little bank account, and he knows it's there, that he can't access and we don't use.

He supports it. I chuck a few quid in there every time I get paid.

It's not a threat to him, because he knows that I have the capacity to leave, and every day, I choose to stay. Every day I wake up and choose to love him and I choose to continue this marriage.

And he appreciates that my love is stronger for having the choice.

People who want to take away that choice? People who think that you having the capacity to walk away is a *threat*? They feel threatened because they know they are treating you badly.

And that's what I think about every time I hear wealthy upper-class people complaining about 'giveaways'. If they weren't being harmful, they'd have no reason to worry.

So, yeah. Let's get UBI passed. Let people choose to stay- if they want to. (/end)