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A UBI of $12,000/year given to every adult by the goverment would double the annual government expenditure. That is fine, but we should have a talk about how t
by lev99 9y ago
A UBI of $12,000/year given to every adult by the goverment would double the annual government expenditure.
That is fine, but we should have a talk about how the program is funded. This is one of the reasons I prefer talking about negative income tax. Yes, the concept is more complex, and has a worse acronym, but it is largely self-funded.
- peterwwillis 9y agoTake it out of the 576 Billion dollar defense budget that makes up more than half of all federal spending?
- aaron-lebo 9y agoThat's not 3 trillion dollars.
- peterwwillis 9y agoCorrect. The defense budget could not pay for it all, but it could contribute a sizeable chunk. A gradual buildup using the funds available (say half, about 288 Billion) could be done, infusing more money into the system and growing opportunities for people to improve their economic standing. At the same time you'd need to gradually pressure corporations and wealthy individuals to shift investment back into US-based work instead of imports and shifting jobs overseas. Basically, redistribute wealth very very slowly, and work trade deals to subsidize the production of our own goods until their price becomes competitive again (because we're not going to build electronics cheaper than the Chinese any time soon). But you'd have to base all this around trade deals, because globalization will just eventually crush our poor, which will keep increasing in number.
- ihm 9y agoYou could start with the Republican’s 1.5 trillion dollar tax break for the wealthy, and also the defense budget as the other commenter mentioned.