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Unlike with taxes , the sovereign wealth fund could invest the money it holds onto to earn some interest It's the same reason universities have endowments bein

by rtpg 9y ago

Unlike with taxes , the sovereign wealth fund could invest the money it holds onto to earn some interest It's the same reason universities have endowments being managed as their own thing. Also if it's a fund, the money is pre-earmarked for this usage. Taxes -> UBI end up being more easily messed up by politics (see social security vs. your 401(k))

OscarCunningham 9y ago
>Unlike with taxes , the sovereign wealth fund could invest the money it holds onto to earn some interest The people the money was taken from could also have invested it profitably. They know that their taxes will be higher down-the-line so it's up to them whether they want to save or spend it. >'s the same reason universities have endowments being managed as their own thing. University endowments also seem far to big to me (at least the largest ones do). I suspect it's mostly a prestige/signalling thing. It might be rational on the part of the university if it attracts more donors, but in that case it isn't rational on the part of the donors. They view saving money as the responsible thing to do because it is the responsible thing to do for a human who will eventually retire. The same logic doesn't apply to Harvard. > if it's a fund, the money is pre-earmarked for this usage. Taxes -> UBI end up being more easily messed up by politics (see social security vs. your 401(k)) I guess this is partly true, but it's easy to get the money out of there with accounting trickery. Just say "To make the fund's investments safer we are going to invest them in government bonds" and then as-if-by-magic you have the money.
shubb 9y ago
In order to pay 10k a year from interested the funds would need lets say 1'000'000 under management per person. It is hard to say where that money would come from - will it be printed? Taxed? Borrowed (interest?)? To do any of these things at the required scale would surely have unintended effects. Also as ability to pay for unemployment during a crisis now depends on cyclical income from investments, rather than countercyclical government bonds, it feels like this would collapse when it is needed most.

by rtpg 9y ago

OscarCunningham 9y ago

>Unlike with taxes , the sovereign wealth fund could invest the money it holds onto to earn some interest The people the money was taken from could also have invested it profitably. They know that their taxes will be higher down-the-line so it's up to them whether they want to save or spend it. >'s the same reason universities have endowments being managed as their own thing. University endowments also seem far to big to me (at least the largest ones do). I suspect it's mostly a prestige/signalling thing. It might be rational on the part of the university if it attracts more donors, but in that case it isn't rational on the part of the donors. They view saving money as the responsible thing to do because it is the responsible thing to do for a human who will eventually retire. The same logic doesn't apply to Harvard. > if it's a fund, the money is pre-earmarked for this usage. Taxes -> UBI end up being more easily messed up by politics (see social security vs. your 401(k)) I guess this is partly true, but it's easy to get the money out of there with accounting trickery. Just say "To make the fund's investments safer we are going to invest them in government bonds" and then as-if-by-magic you have the money.

shubb 9y ago

In order to pay 10k a year from interested the funds would need lets say 1'000'000 under management per person. It is hard to say where that money would come from - will it be printed? Taxed? Borrowed (interest?)? To do any of these things at the required scale would surely have unintended effects. Also as ability to pay for unemployment during a crisis now depends on cyclical income from investments, rather than countercyclical government bonds, it feels like this would collapse when it is needed most.