There are two big issues with basic income: 1) Even if you spent the entire $2T annual federal budget on a basic income, it would come to about $500 per person

There are two big issues with basic income: 1) Even if you spent the entire $2T annual federal budget on a basic income, it would come to about $500 per person per month. The cost is simply gargantuan. 2) It would not replace welfare, it would come on top of it. This is because welfare isn't about helping the poor, it's about giving political power to the lawmakers. This power comes in the form of large administrative bodies, where political allies can be given cushy jobs, and in the form of an electoral clientele. Basic income doesn't have these two features, so from a public choice theory, it will not replace the welfare state. Case in point, when the Reagan administration tried to apply Milton Friedman's negative income tax, he distanced himself from it as they wanted to do it on top of other welfare programs. This is exactly what public choice theory dictates.