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Agreed, but is this really the right time? A discussion about the benefits of UBI seems like an excellent discussion to have after making sure all the folks who

Agreed, but is this really the right time? A discussion about the benefits of UBI seems like an excellent discussion to have after making sure all the folks who will be in serious trouble once the $600 payments stop get some help from their government ...

nrmitchi 6y ago
I think it is the right time. The problem I have with the $600 weekly unemployment bump is that while it helped some people, a ridiculous amount of people slipped through the cracks. We look at it and think "17M unemployed, we are helping 17M people!" but that is just not true. Even if it was, that is overall a very small portion of the population who (likely) needs assistance. A big argument _against_ UBI is that "people wont work, and won't do productive things". This unemployment is actually worse than that; the fact that it "all goes away" when you exceed your state weekly income cap means that people can't do safe, productive "work", even if they want to. If your passion is selling art, and you sell a painting for $200, you most likely just excluded yourself from ~800$ in unemployment that week. This isn't even touching on the difference in social-economic situation impacting ones ability to even apply/qualify for unemployment benefits in the first place, and fact that many state unemployment systems are designed to prevent people from actually being able to collect. The way that the $600/week is talked about it completely ignores everyone (a substantial amount) of people who fell through the cracks. The unemployment system is not designed for distributing catastrophe-relief, and it's a disservice to literally everyone involve by pretending it is.
- adamsea 6y ago
  > The way that the $600/week is talked about it completely ignores everyone (a substantial amount) of people who fell through the cracks. The unemployment system is not designed for distributing catastrophe-relief, and it's a disservice to literally everyone involve by pretending it is. I see. On that I agree with you. Replacing the $600/week with something better - yes!

nrmitchi 6y ago

I think it is the right time. The problem I have with the $600 weekly unemployment bump is that while it helped some people, a ridiculous amount of people slipped through the cracks. We look at it and think "17M unemployed, we are helping 17M people!" but that is just not true. Even if it was, that is overall a very small portion of the population who (likely) needs assistance. A big argument _against_ UBI is that "people wont work, and won't do productive things". This unemployment is actually worse than that; the fact that it "all goes away" when you exceed your state weekly income cap means that people can't do safe, productive "work", even if they want to. If your passion is selling art, and you sell a painting for $200, you most likely just excluded yourself from ~800$ in unemployment that week. This isn't even touching on the difference in social-economic situation impacting ones ability to even apply/qualify for unemployment benefits in the first place, and fact that many state unemployment systems are designed to prevent people from actually being able to collect. The way that the $600/week is talked about it completely ignores everyone (a substantial amount) of people who fell through the cracks. The unemployment system is not designed for distributing catastrophe-relief, and it's a disservice to literally everyone involve by pretending it is.

adamsea 6y ago
> The way that the $600/week is talked about it completely ignores everyone (a substantial amount) of people who fell through the cracks. The unemployment system is not designed for distributing catastrophe-relief, and it's a disservice to literally everyone involve by pretending it is. I see. On that I agree with you. Replacing the $600/week with something better - yes!