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I'm supportive of basic income, but slightly apprehensive of side effects. I think it would have to be rolled-in gradually so as not to shock the economic syste

by rafd 13y ago

I'm supportive of basic income, but slightly apprehensive of side effects. I think it would have to be rolled-in gradually so as not to shock the economic system. Some other potential pros not mentioned in the article: - lowers barriers to entrepreneurship - allows parents to stay home and take care of young children - lowers barriers for re-education - could reduce costs of social services (through elimination of complex programs) Side effects I'm curious about: - how will BI impact minimum wage? - how will BI impact entry level jobs? - how will BI impact cost of basic goods? Also, the 'poverty line' should actually be location dependent because of the difference in food and rent costs in different places. Should BI be location dependent too?

amerika_blog 13y ago
One paradox of money is that the more you distribute it, the less it is worth. When you think about it, this makes sense. If it's easy to come by, it's proportionately "worth less."
- eli_gottlieb 13y ago
  The actual distribution is an upside-down parabola, a "frowny shape". Think, for instance, what would happen if one billionaire bought up the entire world supply of Bitcoins for ideological reasons (meaning: he never reaches a point of diminishing marginal utility as the price of BC increases). First, there would be a price bubble as everyone holding bitcoins gets the highest price they can. Then, everyone who had formerly used bitcoin but now sold to the billionaire would migrate to some other crypto-currency, leaving the billionaire eventually holding utterly worthless cryptographic certificates accepted by nobody at all.
  - dllthomas 13y ago
    I see that it's lower at the ends than in the middle. I don't see that a parabola is a good fit - especially not from your example, where my intuition says it'd look more like a bubble bursting than a smooth rise and fall.

by rafd 13y ago

amerika_blog 13y ago

One paradox of money is that the more you distribute it, the less it is worth. When you think about it, this makes sense. If it's easy to come by, it's proportionately "worth less."

eli_gottlieb 13y ago
The actual distribution is an upside-down parabola, a "frowny shape". Think, for instance, what would happen if one billionaire bought up the entire world supply of Bitcoins for ideological reasons (meaning: he never reaches a point of diminishing marginal utility as the price of BC increases). First, there would be a price bubble as everyone holding bitcoins gets the highest price they can. Then, everyone who had formerly used bitcoin but now sold to the billionaire would migrate to some other crypto-currency, leaving the billionaire eventually holding utterly worthless cryptographic certificates accepted by nobody at all.
- dllthomas 13y ago
  I see that it's lower at the ends than in the middle. I don't see that a parabola is a good fit - especially not from your example, where my intuition says it'd look more like a bubble bursting than a smooth rise and fall.