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UBI won’t do anything I’m afraid, that experiment already failed during the pandemic and now we have massive inflation across all assets.

by xwdv 5y ago

bduerst 5y ago
The covid checks weren't UBI, only people under a specific income range were eligible. Also keeping businesses afloat solved stagnation (worst) at the cost of inflation (bad, but not the worst). I'm critical of UBI but using a global pandemic with millions of deaths as an example isn't what UBI is.
cortesoft 5y ago
Umm, there might have been a FEW confounding factors during the pandemic that makes the conclusion not as clear as that.
tasty_freeze 5y ago
It is very tempting to draw a straight line between something you don't like and some other event that is negative and declare causation. Do you really think this is what is causing inflation? Perhaps there are other facts, such as trillions of dollars of almost zero interest money injected since 2008, massive tax cuts for highly profitable companies (eg AAPL) that result in great payouts to people who are already paying low taxes (long term capital gains), complex interacting forces that moved the cost of a barrel of oil from a low of $20 to over $100?
- google234123 5y ago
  The 6 trillion in government spending, subsidizing labor non-participation with federal money, and canceling federal leases and pipelines and saking banks not to lend for fracking didnt help any of that. I'm not sure how I see how spending a ton more money (UBI) will help with inflation at this point. 100% debt-to-gdb is already a lot.
  - astrange 5y ago
    You might recall 2008, where we tried not spending money and what we got was a 10-year-long recession. Currently private investors are refusing to invest in oil even without environmental factors in the picture - they think it's a temporary spike and are insisting the oil companies pay them back dividends instead. https://twitter.com/PEWilliams_/status/1506654993633456137 https://twitter.com/PEWilliams_/status/1506654993633456137
account42 5y ago
How much funds were paid out to individuals aka UBI and how much was spent to stimulate business? How much of those funds paid out to individuals were funded via additional progressive income/wealth taxes rather than just printed?
- xwdv 5y ago
  COVID checks + increased unemployment + no rent payments for millions is basically as close to UBI as we will get. It didn’t work well.
cwkoss 5y ago
The economic impact payments totaled $3200 over the whole year. Is there anywhere in America where that is enough to live on? Calling it a failed experiment is ridiculous - it was infrequent and an order of magnitude too small.

UBI won’t do anything I’m afraid, that experiment already failed during the pandemic and now we have massive inflation across all assets.

by xwdv 5y ago

UBI won’t do anything I’m afraid, that experiment already failed during the pandemic and now we have massive inflation across all assets.

bduerst 5y ago

The covid checks weren't UBI, only people under a specific income range were eligible. Also keeping businesses afloat solved stagnation (worst) at the cost of inflation (bad, but not the worst). I'm critical of UBI but using a global pandemic with millions of deaths as an example isn't what UBI is.

cortesoft 5y ago

Umm, there might have been a FEW confounding factors during the pandemic that makes the conclusion not as clear as that.

tasty_freeze 5y ago

It is very tempting to draw a straight line between something you don't like and some other event that is negative and declare causation. Do you really think this is what is causing inflation? Perhaps there are other facts, such as trillions of dollars of almost zero interest money injected since 2008, massive tax cuts for highly profitable companies (eg AAPL) that result in great payouts to people who are already paying low taxes (long term capital gains), complex interacting forces that moved the cost of a barrel of oil from a low of $20 to over $100?

google234123 5y ago
The 6 trillion in government spending, subsidizing labor non-participation with federal money, and canceling federal leases and pipelines and saking banks not to lend for fracking didnt help any of that. I'm not sure how I see how spending a ton more money (UBI) will help with inflation at this point. 100% debt-to-gdb is already a lot.
- astrange 5y ago
  You might recall 2008, where we tried not spending money and what we got was a 10-year-long recession. Currently private investors are refusing to invest in oil even without environmental factors in the picture - they think it's a temporary spike and are insisting the oil companies pay them back dividends instead. https://twitter.com/PEWilliams_/status/1506654993633456137 https://twitter.com/PEWilliams_/status/1506654993633456137

account42 5y ago

How much funds were paid out to individuals aka UBI and how much was spent to stimulate business? How much of those funds paid out to individuals were funded via additional progressive income/wealth taxes rather than just printed?

xwdv 5y ago
COVID checks + increased unemployment + no rent payments for millions is basically as close to UBI as we will get. It didn’t work well.

cwkoss 5y ago

The economic impact payments totaled $3200 over the whole year. Is there anywhere in America where that is enough to live on? Calling it a failed experiment is ridiculous - it was infrequent and an order of magnitude too small.