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The $40-50k is based on current salaries in the US. If you're looking at different country or different time then you obviously have to tweak those numbers base
by dagw 5y ago
The $40-50k is based on current salaries in the US. If you're looking at different country or different time then you obviously have to tweak those numbers based on median income. Exactly what median to use is an interesting problem.
However setting the levels of UBI is probably not hard part, agreeing how to raise it every year to adjust for inflation and other cost of living increases is where all the problems will come from. I fear the UBI will also require a more dynamic tax code (to control inflation, as postulated by MMM) that will be very tricky to implement politically.
As to the two level society, I think that is inevitable with UBI. Hopefully it won't be as bad as what we're seeing in some oil states, but it will be similar.
Personally I don't think UBI is good idea, but do think it's doable. It will however permanently change the country, possibly for the worse.
- mantas 5y agoAs you mentioned US-wide median, it got me thinking. I wonder if big and diverse territory wide median would work. I'm not that familiar with US state-to-state median differences. But in EU absolute median could differ 3x from country to country. Existing salary laws already create a lot of opportunities for arbitraging. E.g. truckers and handymen working in expensive, living out of cars or cheapest houses they can find and then spending their time off (as well as paying taxes) in cheap countries. Country-adjusted UBI could make this even worse. While EU-wide UBI median would create it's own share of issues. Any idea is doable if you throw enough propaganda and/or gunpower behind it :)