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This argument only makes sense if you assume that the people receiving UBI do nothing of economic value - something UBI advocates vehemently argue against. Thi

• panarky 6y ago
  > displacing a paid worker It's a common misconception that there is a fixed amount of productive work to be done, such that immigrants / robots / UBI recipients "steal jobs" from workers. In fact, when people are liberated from dull, meaningless and unnecessary jobs, they inevitably find more productive uses of their effort and creativity. When people talk about "restarting the economy" they conveniently forget that the economy that provides food and shelter to people never stopped. The fact that we can live pretty well without so many financial analysts, consultants and managers-of-managers shows that a very large share of the old economy was meaningless at best, and grift at worst. Absent all that wasted commuting and office face-time, we can see more clearly the incredible surplus the core economy produces.
  • koheripbal 6y ago
    > they inevitably find more productive uses of their effort and creativity. This is only true if they define what "productive" means. ...because they obviously aren't providing a product or service that anyone is willing to pay more for than their original employer - otherwise they could have made the switch without UBI.
    • panarky 6y ago
      Just because an employer pays for bullshit work doesn't mean the work isn't bullshit.