Insanity.
Next question
Insanity.
It is a simple economic fact that the amount of income at which the “universal basic income” is set will effectively become the new zero.
Inflationary
Neither. It’s pathological laziness. Sloth.
And God had plenty to say about that.
ANSWER: It is Totalitarian Economic Command and Control which has been proven countless times to be miserable and and unmitigated disaster.
Not to mention that federal attempts in this area would be patently unconstitutional, if ANYONE cares about the Constitution anymore. The Constitution is merely the ONLY LEGAL bulwark of freedom against the tyranny of the feds. Maybe that would be a good reason to actually care about reinstating the Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Land
Seems to me that paying people not to work has failed or is failing everywhere it has been tried.
Are either of these two billionaire ‘RAT turds paying their employees the same income they are receiving?
Don’t believe these Lying Leftist Media outlets like the socialist sympathizing ARMSTRONG ECONOMICS. They are presumed to be lying and we should presume what they publish is a lie. The presumption can only be rebutted with the outlet providing clear and convincing evidence they are not lying.
Why don’t we follow Trump’s lead here on FR? Let’s limit posting headlines from these wretched Lying Leftist outlets. It’s okay, like Trump, to read this stuff, so you know what they’re up to - just don’t post using these Lying Leftist outlets as the source which is a form of promoting their lies. Do like Trump – post the truth about the issue using a reasonably reliable source or yourself as the source. That’s how to EXPOSE the lies without promoting them.
Redistributionism has a harmful effect on the creation of aggregate wealth in a rational, modern, advanced division of labor economy. This can be proven mathematically.
save
The only good argument for UBI is: if we ARE going to have a welfare state one way or another, rather than funding a massive bureaucracy to decide (often arbitrarily) who receives “entitlements” and legislators wasting time trying to legislate what those entitlements are, better to just divvy it all up equally and give flat checks to everyone, to spend as each individual sees fit.
But therein lies the problem: the massive bureaucracy is self-sustaining and self-protecting, and will not go quietly in lieu of UBI. It will morph with a vengeance into a new layer of influence, motivated to identify & service those for whom UBI will be insufficient (either in totality or because many recipients will just waste it and demand more), restoring the same massive bureaucracy just shifted up one expensive layer.
Entrepreneurs find ways to take advantage of what they see in the world.
Musk saw green energy subsidies and made billions.
Future Musks would see lots of people with “basic income” and find ways to take that income and demand it be increased so their customers can live with dignity after falling for whatever scam they fell for.
Without “basic income”, future entrepreneurs will see a large pool of unemployed people who need an income. If the government allows it, they will find a use for that resource. If the government takes it away with “basic income” or discourages it with taxes/regulations, it won’t happen in the US.
Current/near-future technology WILL displace more workers (by number if not %) than any change in the past. The question is which country(s) will be the leader in “whatever comes next”? Liberals do not want the US to be the home for the workforce of the future.
Maybe the most stupid and dangerous idea that’s come along for a while. It will create a permanent, dependent underclass whose vote can be bought by the simple expedient of promising them more money.
not insanity at all. what’s insane is that the “basic” income being proposed is too small . If a small “basic” income is such a good idea economically, then an even BIGGER “basic” income should rev up the economy even more!
I propose that each person in the U.S. be given a trillion dollar coin instead of a “basic income” coin. After all, the cost to make a “basic income” coin is the same as the cost to make a trillion dollar coin, and everyone would be RICH and not have to exist at just the subsistence level of a “basic income”. Everyone could buy anything they wanted and no one would ever have to work again.
The coins could be made from a base metal, so they would be cheap to make, and a few extra ones could be minted for the government itself, so taxes could be completely eliminated and yet government could still function. It’s such an elegant solution I don’t know why it hasn’t been implemented yet.
For myself, I’m going to start by buying a pony and the Broncos NFL football team (and fire all the kneelers). And I won’t even need pony food stamps anymore to feed my pony because I’ll be so rich!
Instead of going to the trouble of legalizing dope and paying everyone UBI, so they have money to keep themselves doped up. Why not just create a “pod” system, and plug in all the people who don’t want to do anything into the “pod”, and the pod will keep them doped up, tube feed, and let them be in a life simulation, aka, matrix. Be cheaper, less crime, and they would not reproduce that way.
People get it in their heads that there are a finite number of jobs, and a finite number of slices of the pie.
Automation changes the workplace, but entrepreneurs transform it. If there is endemic unemployment, you'll find entrepreneurs roadblocked. As long as creative minds are allowed to build, you'll always have a demand for people with hands and minds to help them achieve their dream.
How about instead of a universal basic income, we take 80% of the land the US Government owns, split it up, and give every citizen a few acres?
It’s a stupid move. Anyone who seriously proposes it is either a marxist or insane, or both.
Giving people money for doing nothing is stupid. Those who do work will have most of their money confiscated by the government (”taxed”). There will be no incentive to work. Millions will move to that state for free money. Millions will come to the USA for that money, which is a fortune in their home hellhole.
The proponents will always claim that it costs the people nothing, and that they will actually save money. This is a lie.
Suppose you give everyone 10,000 a year free. Then prices will rise so that 10,000 buys what zero bought at the start. At that point, the non-workers will no longer posess any skill that will get them a job, and will demand $20,000. After a short time, 20,000 will buy what 10,000 bought, and so the recipients will demand $40,000. After a short time, ......... repeat until the Sun engulfs us in its expanding inferno.
About the experiment in Finland. It’s called “trial testing universal basic income”. A blatant contradiction in terms. This is not testing a UNIVERSAL income. It is given to 2,000 unemployed Finns. That is not UNIVERSAL, and anyone who says it is is stupid. You cannot test “universal” on 2,000 people. It is not universal. You are not testing the “universal basic income.” I have to say it over and over again, since the people who proposed it are too dense to understand what I’m saying.
So do we have too many workers (Universal Basic Income position) or too few workers (pro-immigration position)? The left supports both positions simultaneously.