> In other words, what good is $15k/year when you've been living on $15k/month? Or $7k or $5k/month? Not much I guess, but if they're suddenly faced with the p

> In other words, what good is $15k/year when you've been living on $15k/month? Or $7k or $5k/month? Not much I guess, but if they're suddenly faced with the prospect of existing on $0/year, I imagine it'd look pretty nice. Quite a lot of people live on 15K per person in the family, so I don't think they'd be hopeless. I think BI is supposed to hit a sweet spot akin to the "better than a sharp stick" thing you mention. You could live off it if you really wanted to, but it'd kind of suck, and your life overall would be more enjoyable with a job. I think a lot of the appeal of BI comes from two ideas. One: automation technology possibly introducing a "new normal" in terms of unemployment levels, in which case BI might help a society not eat itself. Two: it may, possibly, be much more efficient than the various welfare programs you mention. I don't think that's been proven, but it's a tantalizing idea. I'm not really an expert on the idea though, so, two cents. edit - I'm also not sure that automation tech introducing sweeping society-damning joblessness is something that will ever actually happen.