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Say I'm jobless, and I make 1000/m. If I find a job that pays 1100 : - with BI I'll make 1100. That's the value of work. - without BI I'll make 100 + 1000. The
by weddpros 13y ago
Say I'm jobless, and I make 1000/m. If I find a job that pays 1100 :
- with BI I'll make 1100. That's the value of work.
- without BI I'll make 100 + 1000. The value of work is 100.
With BI, people will think "I don't want to work for 100/m" (you know, it's the gov that pays the other 1000/m). You'll hear people say "I'm paid 1000 just to breathe, why work for 100?".
It you want to limit this problem as much as possible, you'll need a basic income of exactly 0.
- streptomycin 13y agoProblem is, rich countries already have welfare systems and hardly anyone would support completely eliminating them. So people are already paid to breathe. The question is how to do so while minimizing perverse incentives.
- AnthonyMouse 13y agoExactly. The problem right now is that if you have no job, you get government assistance. If you get a job, you lose the government assistance, so a job that pays $1200/month only allows you to keep $200 in your pocket because you've lost $1000 in government benefits by taking the job and no longer "needing" the assistance. We've created a de facto 80+% marginal tax rate on the working class vs. being unemployed, which is economically Very Bad.
- weddpros 13y agoI don't agree with you. If you find a job at 1200$/m you keep 1200$/m in your pocket, not 200... The real problem is if you get paid 80% of that for breathing, because of government assistance! When you want to help some industry, you'll give subventions to it. It should be no surprise that subventions to unemployment lead to more unemployment! France (where I live) has a track record : we almost have basic income (it's called RSA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenu_de_solidarit%C3%A9_active http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenu_de_solidarit%C3%A9_activ...), unemployment rate is >10%, taxes are record high and growth is NaN. Recently, I heard a lady (29 yo) tell me that her 1700€/m salary was not enough to compensate for the loss of social assistance. She decided to resign... but 1700€/m is the MEDIAN SALARY in France! 50% earn less than that!
- streptomycin 13y agoI think you're confused about the difference between a basic income and a guaranteed minimum income. What you are describing is the latter, but what we are advocating is the former.
- weddpros 13y agoI just tried to explain that even guaranteed minimum income can discourage people from working. Basic income will have even more severe counter productive effects. I don't see AT ALL why it would not.
- streptomycin 13y agoNo, it's the opposite. That's the main difference between the two, actually. Listen to Milton Friedman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3ZcF1YjZNs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3ZcF1YjZNs (he explains all this within the first 5 minutes).
- sharemywin 13y agoI think with basic income you would get $2100.
- weddpros 13y agoSorry, no. And it's a good thing: imagine the inflation rate if salaries were raised by up to 100% overnight...