3 ms·

That's certainly one approach and motivation for doing UBI, but it's not the only one. The idea of replacing welfare with UBI and only UBI is what the more libe

That's certainly one approach and motivation for doing UBI, but it's not the only one. The idea of replacing welfare with UBI and only UBI is what the more libertarian folks want. But for example, if you look at Thomas Piketty and the like's ideas surrounding UBI, it's clear that it is meant as a supplement to current welfare programs, and is designed to improve the bargaining power of the workers in the job market. So instead of being a cost cutting measure and ultimately a source for greater inequality of opportunity, it becomes a measure to reduce inequality of opportunity, with the drawback being that the government has to find a way to fund it. One proposed solution would be progressive wealth taxes, which, if you're a millionaire or higher is a perfectly reasonable thing to be upset about but otherwise not so much.

seabass-labrax 3y ago
Were I a millionaire, I wouldn't be upset about progressive wealth taxes, I would be pleased. Why? Because in the philosophical justification for personal wealth and private capital, being a millionaire is a reflection of your worth to others in society. If your millions go to help others through taxes, you get double the social standing: once for earning the millions, once again for giving them back!
- wesselbindt 3y ago
  I think that's an admirable way of looking at things!
- jl2718 3y ago
  Except by your own definition the state does a worse job at benefiting people with your money than you do.
  - wesselbindt 3y ago
    That's quite a poor assumption I find. Most modern leaps in progress have been publicly funded (see for example penicillin, the internet, anything resulting from the space race, and for a more comprehensive list, the entrepeneurial state by Mazzucato). Capital owners typically just take this publicly funded work, slap a sticker on it, and put it behind a paywall. Not much added value imho.

seabass-labrax 3y ago

Were I a millionaire, I wouldn't be upset about progressive wealth taxes, I would be pleased. Why? Because in the philosophical justification for personal wealth and private capital, being a millionaire is a reflection of your worth to others in society. If your millions go to help others through taxes, you get double the social standing: once for earning the millions, once again for giving them back!

wesselbindt 3y ago
I think that's an admirable way of looking at things!
jl2718 3y ago
Except by your own definition the state does a worse job at benefiting people with your money than you do.
- wesselbindt 3y ago
  That's quite a poor assumption I find. Most modern leaps in progress have been publicly funded (see for example penicillin, the internet, anything resulting from the space race, and for a more comprehensive list, the entrepeneurial state by Mazzucato). Capital owners typically just take this publicly funded work, slap a sticker on it, and put it behind a paywall. Not much added value imho.