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Do you know anybody who is financially struggling? Would you tell them to their face that you consider them to be human pigeons? One problem with UBI is that i

Do you know anybody who is financially struggling? Would you tell them to their face that you consider them to be human pigeons? One problem with UBI is that it would go to millions of people and surely there will be tens of thousands that fulfill the stereotype that poor people just waste their money and a layabouts. That 5% or whatever will be provided as evidence ad nauseam that UBI is a boondoggle, entirely dismissing the 95% who are helped by it.

Gormo 3y ago
> Do you know anybody who is financially struggling? I know plenty of people who are financially struggling. I am not convinced that the best way to help them is to make them perpetually dependent on the state for direct subsidies, instead of addressing the problems that are making it difficult them from becoming more financially secure within a pluralistic economy.
- tasty_freeze 3y ago
  I agree that addressing the systemic issues that are contributing to inequality is ideal, but that is a huge tangle to unwind. UBI doesn't solve those issues. But UBI is a pragmatic help to people here and now in a single stroke. The ideal solution would require somehow rewinding the clock to make corporations pay more taxes, undoing much of the corporate welfare, getting society to be truly colorblind (vs those who just claim they are as an excuse to not recognize racial discrimination), and so much more.
  - Gormo 3y ago
    > But UBI is a pragmatic help to people here and now in a single stroke. I'm not sure that it is. It sounds like a transfer of dependency to an even more centralized institution with even more dubious motivations. > The ideal solution would require somehow rewinding the clock to make corporations pay more taxes I'm not sure how making corporations pay higher taxes would resolve any such problem. It seems like it would have the opposite effect, and centralize more control over wealth in the hands of political institutions.

Gormo 3y ago

> Do you know anybody who is financially struggling? I know plenty of people who are financially struggling. I am not convinced that the best way to help them is to make them perpetually dependent on the state for direct subsidies, instead of addressing the problems that are making it difficult them from becoming more financially secure within a pluralistic economy.

tasty_freeze 3y ago
I agree that addressing the systemic issues that are contributing to inequality is ideal, but that is a huge tangle to unwind. UBI doesn't solve those issues. But UBI is a pragmatic help to people here and now in a single stroke. The ideal solution would require somehow rewinding the clock to make corporations pay more taxes, undoing much of the corporate welfare, getting society to be truly colorblind (vs those who just claim they are as an excuse to not recognize racial discrimination), and so much more.
- Gormo 3y ago
  > But UBI is a pragmatic help to people here and now in a single stroke. I'm not sure that it is. It sounds like a transfer of dependency to an even more centralized institution with even more dubious motivations. > The ideal solution would require somehow rewinding the clock to make corporations pay more taxes I'm not sure how making corporations pay higher taxes would resolve any such problem. It seems like it would have the opposite effect, and centralize more control over wealth in the hands of political institutions.