Online at The Future Fire. A haunting, wealthweary tale about (among other things) how patterns of classed and racialised oppression could continue despite Universal Basic Income. Snippet:
“You’re very clever, Mo, so very clever. What’s such a clever girl as you doing working in a place like this?”
“Paying the bills.”
“What bills? I watch the news. You DPs [Displaced Persons] get your Universal Basic Income just like everyone else.”
“Not just like everyone else. Homeland Security need their cut, and the immigration lawyers, plus resident aliens pay an extra fee to the borough for the pleasure of living in a building with bad water and intermittent electricity, our insurance fees are not subsidized, nor my college tuition. The banks charge extra processing fees to clients who are not citizens and lend only at exorbitant rates. And every month we transfer funds to my brother in Tangiers, cousins in the Italian Camps, an aunt in Miami. Without that money they might not eat.”
