I think this is off base, at least if we're talking about the US. The central problem is high prices for housing, healthcare and education. The first step to so

I think this is off base, at least if we're talking about the US. The central problem is high prices for housing, healthcare and education. The first step to solving that problem is research: we need to figure out the right theory of cost disease, its causes and prevention. Scott made a start here: https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost-disease/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost... Once we fix it (by regulation if need be), and these goods become appropriately cheap, poor people will have much less trouble getting by. Whereas if you don't fix it, and instead give money to people, the mysterious force that extracts that money into rising housing/healthcare/education costs will just learn to extract a little more, and you're back where you started.