This is an old idea in science fiction. See Mack Reynolds, "The Fracas Factor" (1978), where he lays out the system in some detail.[1] He called it "United States Basic Common Stock". Everyone got some shares of "Inalienable Basic" at birth, providing a basic income. People could buy and sell "Variable Basic" as well. Thus, a welfare state. He outlines how the transition takes place.
Reynold's old books from the 1960s and 1970s explore a world where manufacturing produces more than enough stuff and there's a huge excess population. It's not dystopian; he outlines how such a world could work. His world is capitalistic but government plays a very strong role.
This model comes from an era when corporations were about equity and dividends, not debt. Altman may see the world that way because he comes from venture capital, which is an equity world, not a debt world. Larger corporations today tend to be heavily debt financed, because interest payments are deductible while dividends are not. That interest paid is a deductible expense powers the debt-heavy corporate structures of today.
Also, if all of your income comes from dividends, you have to be able to handle considerable volatility, even across the whole market. At least 2x. That's not acceptable as a basic income scheme. People will starve.
> Also, if all of your income comes from dividends, you have to be able to handle considerable volatility, even across the whole market. At least 2x. That's not acceptable as a basic income scheme. People will starve.
Good point -- but if this became a significant problem, then one could imagine purchasing a hedging service to smooth out the peaks and troughs. That would have to be considered when fleshing out this portion of the OP:
> We’d also need to figure out rules about transferability and borrowing against this equity.
Reynold's old books from the 1960s and 1970s explore a world where manufacturing produces more than enough stuff and there's a huge excess population. It's not dystopian; he outlines how such a world could work. His world is capitalistic but government plays a very strong role.
This model comes from an era when corporations were about equity and dividends, not debt. Altman may see the world that way because he comes from venture capital, which is an equity world, not a debt world. Larger corporations today tend to be heavily debt financed, because interest payments are deductible while dividends are not. That interest paid is a deductible expense powers the debt-heavy corporate structures of today.
Also, if all of your income comes from dividends, you have to be able to handle considerable volatility, even across the whole market. At least 2x. That's not acceptable as a basic income scheme. People will starve.
[1] https://books.google.com/books?id=NOg1AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43