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Ask HN: A variant approach on Basic Income
Basic Income is a hotly debated issue, especially on HN (I understand that YCombinator are doing their own experiments there) so I would like to discuss a variant that (as far as I know) has not been discussed by anyone yet.
(feel free to provide links or other pointers to places where this has been already discussed, if available).
The idea came to me while reading the story about Borderlands [1]: one of the commenters explained that Minimum Wage might be ok for a single person but will make it hard for them to provide for any dependants.
So here is my proposal: what if Basic Income was provided only for people below a certain age, say from day 1 to their 18th Birthday?
Alternative: should we also provide it for people above a certain age? Like 65 or 70?
Would this be more sustenable in terms of how to finance it? What type of effect could we expect on society, internal demand, job market, demographics?
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14344060
- onion2k 9y agoone of the commenters explained that Minimum Wage might be ok for a single person but will make it hard for them to provide for any dependants. The point of Universal Basic income is that it's universal. Everyone gets it, including children (although maybe not the same amount as adults). There's no reason why someone should find it hard to provide for their dependents - the universal basic income is providing for them.
- Pamar 9y agoI am aware of that, but I am also a bit concerned about the financial sustainability of the "normal" UBI and also, to be honest, a bit concerned about two things: - when discussing UBI many comments hint at completely replacing any kind of welfare with it (I am European so my concept of Welfare is a bit different from the prevalent US view on the topic) - I have a (maybe irrational) opinion about work being something most people will need to have some sort of focus in their life, so I am a bit torn about BUI as something that would just allow people to live (albeit modestly) without any kind of extra work during their productive years.
- onion2k 9y agosomething that would just allow people to live (albeit modestly) without any kind of extra work during their productive years. You see it as "allowing" them to do that. I see it as "enabling" them to do that. As a race, we've spent tens of thousands of years having to toil practically every day, doing arduous work just to eat, and now we're at a point where perhaps we don't actually need to do that any more. We could have members of society choosing whether they work or not, or just to do things they enjoy, or even just to sit around doing nothing all day. That's amazing. That's exactly the society I want to be a part of. Frankly, if someone chooses to do nothing with their life it has no impact on you, so why do you care?
- Pamar 9y agoI admitted already that my own preference could be irrational, and I am not trying to impose my own viewpoint on the matter. Regarding "why I think work is a very important element of our own lives", see my own submission on HN from a few months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8280379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8280379