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This is essentially the inflation argument and we have a lot of indicators that a UBI doesn't lead to significant inflation. But it brings up the point that a
by michaelchisari 8y ago
This is essentially the inflation argument and we have a lot of indicators that a UBI doesn't lead to significant inflation.
But it brings up the point that a UBI will not solve all of our problems. An extra $2000 a month doesn't help you if you don't have medical insurance and get a $500k bill from a terminal disease, for instance.
What a UBI does is removes a lot of bureaucracy around welfare for recurring costs (rent, clothes, food, gas, etc) and it addresses the scaling problem we're having with inequality. It's an imperfect solution, of course, but I haven't heard many other viable (by capitalist standards) options.
- pmiller2 8y agoI disagree that this is the same as a simple inflation argument. If no new money is injected to pay for the program, we have the same amount of money paying for the same stuff, so no overall increase in prices. Housing is special in that everybody needs to live somewhere, and you can't take it with you anywhere. If I want to work in a certain geographical area, I simply have to live near there as well. The vast majority of the population does not have the option of remote work. Since landlords know this, they know that if they're not already offering subsidized housing, that their tenants can afford more, so they do the rational thing and raise prices.