In the US, nobody starves to death for lack of food, or freezes for lack of shelter, unless they are just too mentally ill or drug-addled to be helped. Currently, the "poor" have cell phones, TV, wear expensive sneakers, etc.
Under "basic income", poverty would just be redefined as "basic income standard of living".
A basic income could turn the welfare class into parasites for life with no chance of reforming and becoming productive. I care about the poor and pray this will never pass.
Government provided basic income requires slavery.
Someone has to work to provide that money for all those who do not work. It will fall apart if everyone quits working and lives off the money provided. Suddenly there would be nothing available for anyone. So some people must be required to work.
The sure bet is that the decision as to who must work will be implemented by social justice/affirmative action/reparation minded people. Eventually all the jobs will be done by productive white males. They will be the new slaves for the non-productive ruling class.
You can have a lawful basic income in America right now. All you have to do is commit a felony, get convicted and step into prison. Somebody will pick up the tab for all your material needs.
Just forfeit your freedom. That’s the price — everywhere.
Sounds like a deal with the Devil, doesn’t it?
I agree, a basic income will end what the advocates of a basic income call “poverty”, totally. What is it they call “poverty”? Is it the inability to keep your economic head above water, obtain your essential needs, and have a few luxuries also? No. Their idea of “poverty” is really an application of envy, expecting that “most” people should not have an income that is below some arbitrarily set level, a level that is the result of comparing “how much lower” the lowest incomes are below the higher incomes (envy).
The “basic income” plan will end what its promoters call “poverty”, because:
1. It will cost so much that the spendable income of the majority will be so reduced that, 2. wages and living standards will be greatly reduced, until 3. a lower “poverty level” results, and yet also 4. moving more into the “basic income” category, until nearly everyone will be in the “basic income” level and 5. eventually the whole society will be in real poverty.
In sum, the cost will be continuously taken from the producers, continually reduce the numbers of producers, which will continuously increase the per-capita cost of subsidizing the “basic income”, until all incomes are reduced to the “basic income” level, either through the reduced direct income alone or through what is taken in taxes to subsidize income. Once that produces true “income equality” it will have achieved its goal and ended statistical “poverty” as no one will be left to be envied.
I don’t get it, why stop there?
Why not give everyone a nice house, free food, luxury vacations. In fact lets declare it all a human right.
Anyone who refuses to do this is a real hater racist.
We should run the economy on magic pixie dust for progress!
It all boils down to Joe Biden’s three-letter word - JOBS.
What is a job? A job is a structured way to systematically contribute value to society. And a paycheck is your share of that contributed value.The highest form of job is to lead others in contributing value to society. This is done by pastors and teachers - and, most concretely, by employers. Employers establish discipline in their own domains, but employers are also disciplined by their “employer” - which is society. A.k.a., “the market.” The difference between the employee and the employer is that the employer actively seeks out opportunities to serve society and get concrete credit for doing so. The seeking may be by developing new products which society could not previously get (including in the extreme (smart phone) case products which society didn’t even know it wanted), or by identifying new customers for existing products in order to at least compensate for inevitable attrition due to disenchantment, removal, or death of customers.
The cynic says, “you didn’t build that,” but the reality is that all business are either dying or are being renewed continually. If you are not trying to improve, you are getting worse. Socialism is cynicism, and cynicism cannot encompass that reality. Socialism assumes away effort at improvement, and promises “quality health care,” when quality is impossible even to maintain, let alone improve, when socialism cannot allow individuals to seriously profit by serious efforts to improve.
And nobody would consider 1950 “quality” health care to be quality today.
Laughable. Take a look at Venezuela and Cuba, kid.
Basic income
AKA
Slavery
For later.