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I like the idea of UBI in theory, but I cannot imagine it won't have any impact on the cost of living. At the very least, it would force companies contracting
by Kurtz79 9y ago
I like the idea of UBI in theory, but I cannot imagine it won't have any impact on the cost of living.
At the very least, it would force companies contracting minimum/low wage workers to raise wages substantially (because why work on a shitty job if I can have the same money for free ?), which in turn would mean a substantial increase in prices, which in turn would make UBI money not enough to survive for most people relying exclusively on it, and we are back at square one.
UBI seems to me the classic "easy solution for a complex problem", that in practice would create even more problems than the actual system.
- rjsw 9y agoOr we find out whether those minimum wage jobs really need to be done.
- bo1024 9y agoMaybe, maybe not. For companies that are making lots of profits, they wouldn't necessarily need to raise prices just because they raise wages. It's just that more of their revenue would be going back to the workers than where it's currently going (e.g. cash, shareholders, CEOs).
- ForHackernews 9y ago> raise wages substantially > which in turn would mean a substantial increase in prices, Higher wages only result in higher prices in non-competitive industries that rely on human labour. I think what would actually happen in competitive markets is they'd be constrained in their ability to raise prices and instead shift even more rapidly toward automation and capital investment to cut wage costs. The optimistic scenario would be lots of crappy jobs automated out of existence, and people with more free time on their hands.