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No one has tried it because it's a silly and naive idea. The rest of the economy would correct for the adjustment, leaving us in the same situation and causing
by bavell 6y ago
No one has tried it because it's a silly and naive idea. The rest of the economy would correct for the adjustment, leaving us in the same situation and causing a lot of pain for workers and businesses in the process.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoIf that's so (and I believe it is), then isn't this whole discussion a red herring? The market correcting for disposable income is a problem. We'll never solve poverty if the market is just going to eat all the improvements we're making.
- bavell 6y agoI don't think it's always the case that the market will eat any attempted improvements - it's just that an attempt to raise the wage floor without any other changes isn't enough to prevent the market from adjusting to the new baseline. There are tons of other ways to change the calculus. E.g. tax code, employment laws, separating health care from employment, etc. I'm no expert and I don't know what the 'right' answer is but I imagine it's some combination of thought-out policy changes that, when combined, apply an economic force to pull the wealth gap closer over time.
- mcguire 6y agoThat's my fear for UBI.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoMine too. I like the idea and the intent behind it very much, but nobody could yet explain to me how to prevent the market from adjusting across the board to cancel it out.