Posted on 05/13/2013 5:07:01 AM PDT by Sir Napsalot
In light of the recent Oregon Medicaid study, several people have discussed the idea of taking parts of the social insurance system and replacing them with cash benefits. This naturally brings up the debate about whether it should be a policy goal for the United States to adopt a universal basic income (UBI). These poverty-level targeted incomes are universal and unconditional, so everyone would get them regardless of their income, status or work participation. Wonkblog’s Dylan Matthews wrote an overview of universal basic incomes and some proposals for such a system last year.
Though establishing a basic income was once at the forefront of politics, it has since become more of a Utopian, abstract project. But sometimes it is helpful to step back from the day-to-day wonk work and think Utopian.
First, what are some advantages of providing a universal basic income? To those on the left, a UBI would create greater equality by ending poverty and providing a minimum living standard. It would also increase bargaining power for workers, who could demand better working conditions with a safety cushion. As Erik Olin Wright argues in Envisioning Real Utopias, such bargaining power “will generate an incentive structure for employers to seek technical and organizational innovations that eliminate unpleasant work,” which would “have not just a labor-saving bias, but a labor-humanizing bias.”
The fact that it is universal is crucial. This eliminates income traps that can cause severe work disincentives. ...... Eliminating poverty is an essential part of any egalitarian project, and a universal basic income could finish that in one move. ....
(Be sure to read the rest of the article!)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
One project would be to make sure merit goods are sufficiently provided to everyone who needs them. There are certain goods that we owe to each other — education, health care, a secure retirement — and it isn’t clear that the private market is capable of providing a basic minimum across society......(End excerpt)
Hello, Workers' Paradise (Utopia) here we come.
Soon Mao Tse Dong's universal gray (or blue) suit and Little Red Book will be JUST THE THING!
Robert A. Heinlein wrote along similar lines in a number of his stories. I believe this school of thought, if memory servers me right, started in the 20s or 30s.
This is just more socialist/communist propaganda from the democrats at a newspaper. Shouldn’t you put a barf alert or a socialist propaganda alert on it?
socialism/government doesn’t work and is an evil
Exactly right. He went into detail in “For Us The Living, A Comedy of Customs”. It is also the stated end-goal of the Cloward-Piven strategy. We focus often on the ‘tear down’ aspect and ignore the details of what they want to build.
I see... Everyone must work or have some sort of work... Sweeping streets is “work”. And then everyone can be paid the same. Hmmm... Please see Russia and the quote “They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work”.
Or on the other hand maybe they have found a new source of “Other People’s Money” to latch onto like a vampire and drain it to death? (401k’s, Pension plans, IRA’s, cough, cough)’Someone’ has to pay for these ideas to work.
On the other, other hand it could be someone is regurgitating their College Education again.
Utopia... Bringing the human race down to the lowest common denominator. With a few overlords to manage it “properly” of course.
Sorry, my bad.
What is the incentive to work?
Eliminate poverty? No, it won’t. The same people who blow through a welfare check in three days now will also blow through their utopian income check in three days unless they learn to spend wisely.
Funny, nobody is willing to admit that the real problem with poverty is stupid spending.
Or, as I heard growing up. “Poor people have poor ways”.
Also the latest (Forbes) Four Reasons Why The Oregon Medicaid Results Are Even Worse Than They Look
>>> Funny, nobody is willing to admit that the real problem with poverty is stupid spending.
Or, as I heard growing up. “Poor people have poor ways”.<<<
In their Utopian ways, poor people (i.e. most of us) won’t have STUFF to spend on.
Problem solved.
They have no idea who the things they wish to redistribute are produced.
They think they are produced magically, and the only reason everybody isn't rich is because the producers are too selfish and don't wish to share.
The problem for them is that the production of the things they wish to redistribute ain't magic.
We already have “Basic Universal Income”. It is $0.
“would create greater equality by ending poverty”
My ribs are hurting from laughing.
In Alaska, they have a defacto version of this, when every resident gets a royalty on oil. The month the checks go out is the busiest in the hospital, due to over-doses.
You throw money at some people, and it won’t pul them out of poverty for more than a week.
“We already have “Basic Universal Income”. It is $0.”
....it might already be more than that, with Welfare, EBT, WIC, etc.
“create greater equality by ending poverty”
1. Define “poverty”. If you’re living on more than half the world population, you’re not poor (and the US “poverty line” is 20x that).
2. If all money/wealth/opportunity/etc were distributed evenly, it would soon be redistributed as unevenly as it is today.
Furthermore, the adoption of a universal basic income would allow the government to eliminate the bureaucracy associated with many existing programs. The maintenance of these bureaucracies is the primary cost of government. Also, the minimum wage would become irrelevant and could be eliminated. Incomes in excess of the UBI would, of course, be subject to the income tax.
The calculation is complicated, but BUI in the USA works out to about $30,000/yr. If you’re not at that you’ll get the balance in cash and benefits.
They already have the basic income. If they actually take the time to investigate some of the 85+ entitlement programs that are out there, they will reap a disposable income that rivals middle class income.
These people don’t work, they don’t have responsibility, they don’t get up before 10-11AM, they don’t even pay to have their garbage hauled off.
The only thing they do is to consume, eat, get fat, have kids and drain the wealth of this country
“Poor people have poor ways”.
Learned this lesson myself trying to help one of them. There’s a reason she’s on the street and I am not.
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