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> over time inflation will adjust to the point that the spending power of the basic income will approach zero. Through what mechanism exactly? Please also expl
by brazzy 13y ago
> over time inflation will adjust to the point that the spending power of the basic income will approach zero.
Through what mechanism exactly? Please also explain why this hasn't happened with other, existing forms of social subsidies.
It seems like it is your understanding of money that is laughably over-simplified.
- downandout 13y agoThey will have to print this money, because there is nowhere else to get it. What happens when you print money but there is no additional demand for it? You guessed it...the value drops. Markets are surprisingly efficient at pricing things like this in. Are you seriously trying to make the argument that their economy will absorb this with no effect on the value of their currency?
- brazzy 13y ago> because there is nowhere else to get it. Why that? Nobody's talking about abolishing taxes. Note also that the basic income would replace many other forms of social subsidies that already exist and have harmful side effects.
- downandout 13y agoWhy that? Because you can't tax enough to fund a basic income for every single person.
- brazzy 13y agoThat depends entirely on how high it is, doesn't it? Ultimately, it's not about money but about productivity. If the economy is productive enough to give everyone a minimal standard of living as well as comforts and luxuries for those who earn them, it doesn't really matter how said minimal standard of living is "funded". And there is little doubt that the economies of developed countries are that productive for a reasonable minimal standard.
- desas 13y agoYou can't tax enough to fund the current government spending either....
- randallsquared 13y agoYou can free up ~4500 per adult in the US "just" by redirecting the "mandatory" portion of the Social Security Administration and the Department of Agriculture (which I believe is largely food subsidies, but I could be wrong about that). Drop Medica.. and tell people to spend some of their BI on insurance if they need it and you can just about double it, with no tax increases at all. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_United_States_federal_budget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_United_States_federal_budg...
- vilhelm_s 13y agoApparently the total income in the US is $13,401,868,693,000 (according to http://bber.unm.edu/econ/us-tpi.htm http://bber.unm.edu/econ/us-tpi.htm), which is about $43k per person. So funding a $20k/person basic income would correspond to about 50% tax? Actually I think this is an overestimate, since the declared incomes do not cover social security and corporate taxes.