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To play devil's advocate here: Yes, with UBI we're basically taxing ourselves to pay ourselves, it will hurt productivity and will cause inflation. But at lea
by woodpanel 6y ago
To play devil's advocate here:
Yes, with UBI we're basically taxing ourselves to pay ourselves, it will hurt productivity and will cause inflation.
But at least in a country like Germany, where I live, that is already happening for decades via our ever-growing, convoluted, amounts of government welfare programs, subsidies and redistribution schemes.
A UBI would then at least have the benefit of cutting out the bureaucrat middle man.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoIf UBI means giving everyone 18 and older $1,400 per month (like in this trial) then it is simply unaffordable and unrealistic, even for Germany. If this expense is compensated by extra taxes on individuals then it is pointless. If it means making sure that unemployed people receive a guaranteed minimum income then it already exists. If it means merging all benefits into a single one then it is just a simplication and also already exists, e.g. recently in the UK. UBI, as in 'everyone gets a payment', only makes sense if there is a source of wealth that does not depend on people to tap into. That's why it is often discussed in the context of massive automation, because then it has merit (basically robots work and you receive their 'wages').
- rorykoehler 6y agoYou should read Andrew Yang's plan on how to pay for it. It is far more affordable than you think.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoYou do not say what this plan is and what UBI you are talking about. In my example, which is what this trial does, it is plainly unaffordable.
- rorykoehler 6y agoRead his plan
- mytailorisrich 6y agoIf you can't even summarise how his plan would be affordable in this discussion then... I'll draw my conclusions. That's a good summary of UBI, actually: It's great, please let's not get bogged down on details like financing.
- rorykoehler 6y agoRead his plan. I won’t do it justice in a couple of sentences here