[davidvaughan]

The only way I can think of to pay for this, is for the more productive people to pay, in the form of a citizen's wage. We have the first inkling of this in Britain, in the form of the proposed universal credit.

But it should be borne in mind that stuff is getting cheaper, thanks to automation. The proportion of income spent on food has fallen from 33% to 15% in fifty years.

In any case, I think we have little option. It's possible that current employment problems are a blip, but annual hours worked per person have fallen by around 25% since 1950. And halved since the 19th century. It looks like a trend to me.