If we could blow up every single welfare and means-tested program, such an idea would seem reasonable.
However, the moment you issue a single check, that recipient will blow it all. ALL. In mere moments. On drugs, gambling, booze, women, etc.
Then, they will still be begging at government’s doorstep asking for food, housing, healthcare, etc.
The problem of welfare is not its construct.
The problem of welfare is its existence.
A basic income check would be a heckuva lot cheaper than all the redundant programs the Feds, states, counties, and cities run. Think of the bureaucracy we could get rid of. It’ll never happen.
Unlike you, I believe people know what to do with their money than any bureaucrat.
A $20,000 basic income would decouple income from work but then the rich already live that way and with a job based economy disappearing, it may be a practical solution to a world where jobs are being replaced by off-shoring and automation.
People will still want to work but not for a living but simply to contribute something to society. Ironically enough, that brings Karl Marx’s famous vision of the free person in a Communist society into realization - all without the oppressive hand of central planning or wealth redistribution.