[GeorgiaDawg32]

Imagine if everyone was guaranteed healthcare and an income floor. People would still pursue their calling in life. In fact, they could do so more freely with more creativity and daring without the fear of not making ends meet. It would unleash the enormous creative potential that lays dormant within the hearts and minds of so many office workers, toiling away as their best ideas and dreams wither away.

Then you have Americans who would sit on their ass. They'd get the check on the first and be broke by the 4th, then complain they need a raise. You have people who wouldn't lift a finger, kinda like today and let everyone else work. Imagine if EVERYONE quit work and just collected a check. Where would the government get the now non-existent tax money to pay for this scheme?

[LostInBayport]

They'd get the check on the first and be broke by the 4th, then complain they need a raise.

You nailed it. If this lunacy were ever to happen, and I hope and pray it does not, a new political carrot would exist. Every democrat would campaign on "increasing the universal basic income" and would win easily. Of course, eventually the smoking ruin of our economy or the reckoning of our national debt would soon make the whole thing moot.

[ProudFossil]

Where would the government get the now non-existent tax money to pay for this scheme?

Nothing is new anymore. About 40 years ago the Democratic mantra was to pay each adult in the country about $500 a month. I was doing contract work in El Paso at the time and since it was an election year this became a topic of discussion. I said I would welcome that because my wife and I would be getting about $1,000 a month. At the time I was making around $1,200 a month. One of the other persons on the project became irate. He said I must keep working so I could pay the taxes for those not working. We never spoke to each other again.