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My long-view prediction for UBI is that when faced with the rising cost of goods coupled with rising inflation from increasing payouts, UBI will eventually move
by BitwiseFool 5y ago
My long-view prediction for UBI is that when faced with the rising cost of goods coupled with rising inflation from increasing payouts, UBI will eventually move from pure monetary payments to reduced monetary payments and vouchers for specific items, and then ultimately, rations.
My reasoning is that if the UBI collection and payout system cannot keep up with the market, the next logical step for the government is to nationalize the production and issue goods accordingly.
Edit: Let's say a pack of toilet paper goes from $10 to $20 due to inflation and the manufacturer raising prices because they are forced to pay workers higher wages (let's assume working in a toilet paper factory is terrible work and you could just live on UBI instead of working in a paper mill), and because the corporation also has to pay higher taxes to support UBI. The government can increase the UBI payout to make up for this - in the short term at least. But the price will continue to rise because the money has to come from somewhere and if you just print it inflation speeds up. But what if you get around this problem by issuing vouchers for toilet paper rather than issuing dollars that can be used on toilet paper? You solve the inflation problem as 1 roll = 1 roll. You can even lower each UBI payout because now you don't need to factor in the TP expense. This same thinking can be applied to other goods.