> But riddle me this: what do you do when someone on BI has a financial emergency or, as will happen with some regularity, just flat-out blows all their money a

> But riddle me this: what do you do when someone on BI has a financial emergency or, as will happen with some regularity, just flat-out blows all their money and now can't afford rent and/or food? Do you tell them "tough shit, you've exhausted all your social safety nets" or are there safety nets below BI, essentially recreating the welfare programs previously destroyed? If so, how do you prevent fraud without a department following up on Joe's twelfth "my car broke down" case of the year? I think you're comparing BI to a different standard than the existing programs. The question isn't "Is BI perfect?", but rather "Is BI better than what we have today?" The exact scenario you laid out can easily happen with the various programs that exist today. If BI reduces (but not eliminates) those scenarios, that would be a worthwhile improvement.