>In the US that would also be possible, but the level of basic income you arrive at might be bloody low. Why would that be? The US has a significantly higher G

>In the US that would also be possible, but the level of basic income you arrive at might be bloody low. Why would that be? The US has a significantly higher GDP per capita than every European country except Norway, Luxemburg, and maybe Switzerland (depending on who you ask). If you're talking about limiting it to current social welfare expenditures, the US spends about 20% of GDP on social welfare [1], and many European countries spend close to 30%. But since our GDP per capita is so much higher it should come out fairly close per person. [1] http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/government-social-spending_20743904-table1 http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/...