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This is why the conversation about “universal basic income” puzzles me; I assume we have it already. If you make to much, cough it up; if you don’t make enough (or anything at all), here’s your “pay”. Right now so many things are “means-adjusted” (income taxes, college admissions, government housing, food stamps, etc.) that we have a VERY socialist system in place - and no politicians willing to bite the bullet and stop the growth of it.

While neighboring NYC is considering “congestion pricing” to keep poor people from driving in certain parts of the city at certain times of day, the same city has a “fair fare” program that allows mow-income people to receive heavy subsidies for mass transit. Half a million people in the city live in government housing; school lunch programs operate throughout the summer so taxpayers can provide “free” food all year. This entitlement mentality has spread far and wide, and will be difficult to undo; the only solution I see is an economy where those willing to work can do so and escape the outstretched palms of the covetous gibsmedats. It is absolutely critical that those willing to work enjoy a better standard of living than those who refuse to do so; at this point the only difference is the welfare class tends to have shorter, more violent lives while living in the same areas as people who want to better themselves.

Amazon recently did what many fleeing the high-cost NYC metro area have been doing for decades now: Put its wallet away and go elsewhere. While it is clear that many NYers are having second thoughts about opposing Amazon, what initially drove the opposition still remains: The entitled mindset that anyone doing business here must pay for a bunch of sh!t for residents (forget employees).

This is why the conversation about “universal basic income” puzzles me; I assume we have it already.

Agree with everything in your post.

If you are super rich, you pay high taxes, but there are also many ways to shelter and avoid many taxes (still though, the top % of earners pay the majority of the tax bill). If you are "poor" (and we have the richest "poor" people in the world), then you pay nothing or almost nothing.

If you are in the middle, you are squeezed like an lemon.

I think the "universal basic income", from what I have read, is now becoming a global concept for the international socialists.