It's basic income, not basic job or basic requirements for living. If it was basic requirements for living, then you couldn't supplement what was given to make

It's basic income, not basic job or basic requirements for living. If it was basic requirements for living, then you couldn't supplement what was given to make it better. You'd get a rack in a barracks and be fed crap because most people wouldn't be using the benefit. It wouldn't be universal. I couldn't choose to use the money to get a place out in the country where the cost of living was low, and grow stuff in a garden. And I couldn't choose to get a place with a roommate that I trusted. I couldn't decide that I wanted to splurge and get something good for dinner, instead of red beans and rice. No a pile of cash isn't food, water, clothing, or transportation. But it can buy all of them. Money doesn't buy happiness, but lack of money sure causes alot of misery. It's kinda like how donating food and clothing is the worst form of charity you can supply. You pay retail rates to give stuff to a charity that they may not need, when if they had cash they could get what they need, possibly at wholesale rates.