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"First, saying basic income is socialism is as absurd as saying money is socialism. It’s money. It’s all it is. What do people do with money? They use it in mar
by IvanK_net 9y ago
"First, saying basic income is socialism is as absurd as saying money is socialism. It’s money. It’s all it is. What do people do with money? They use it in markets. In other words, basic income is fuel for markets."
The brilliant flow of thoughts and deduction just blew my mind.
- Simon_says 9y agoIf Basic Income isn’t socialism, I shudder to think of what the author would consider socialism.
- akvadrako 9y agoSocialism might be central planning. Basic income is almost the opposite of central planning, because it replaces all sorts of conditional and focused welfare with what is equivalent to a negative income tax. That's why so many libertarians are on board with the idea.
- Simon_says 9y agoThat doesn’t sound right to me. Speaking as someone with mild Libertarian tendencies, UBI seems pretty contra to Libertarian ideals. Not the UBI itself, but the taxation required to fund it. Can you give references to any well-known Libertarian thinkers who are on board with UBI?
- Firadeoclus 9y agoThere is more than one strand of libertarianism, and not all of them strive to minimize taxation. See e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-libertarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-libertarianism
- Simon_says 9y agoThanks for showing me this. I never knew about "Libertarian Socialists". I'm afraid of falling into the Scottsman fallacy, but they don't sound like the other Libertarians I've read. I couldn't find anything about basic income on that page. Is there any writing from a self-proclaimed Libertarian in support of UBI?
- TheCoelacanth 9y agoYou are probably thinking exclusively of right libertarianism and must not be familiar with geolibertarianism[1] based somewhat on the ideas of Henry George[2]. They share most views with right libertarians such as the view that the fruits of a person's labor should not be taxed, but differ in that they view all land and natural resources as the common property of all people and as such believe that use of land and natural resources should be taxed at the full market value and then the proceeds redistributed equally to everyone. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geolibertarianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geolibertarianism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George
- akvadrako 9y agoCharles Murray is a famous libertarian political scientist who likes the idea: https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-guaranteed-income-for-every-american-1464969586 https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-guaranteed-income-for-every-a... And Gary Johnson, the libertarian nominee, was the only candidate in the 2016 US presidential election to comment positively on the scheme. I can't find the source of the claim, but it does seem to be an accepted stance: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Gary+Johnson+%22Basic+Income%22&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Gary+Johnson+%22Basic+Income%22&ia...
- creaghpatr 9y agoLibertarians are not on board with the idea- libertarians are absolutely be against mandated handouts without critical purpose. A disingenuous claim at best.
- TheCoelacanth 9y agoOnly right libertarians hold that view. Geolibertarians hold the view that all land and natural resources are the common property of all people and should be taxed at the full market value and then the proceeds redistributed equally.
- Nelkins 9y agoKind of reminds me of the old Batman-style deduction. https://youtu.be/HXKYQvP0zQ0 https://youtu.be/HXKYQvP0zQ0