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I have many objections to basic income proposals such as this, but I would be very interested to see some states implement this sort of policy, so that we might
by nickff 12y ago
I have many objections to basic income proposals such as this, but I would be very interested to see some states implement this sort of policy, so that we might observe the result. Unfortunately, I cannot imagine the federal government eliminating any of the existing Social Security or other wealth transfer programs, and they would likely obscure the findings of the basic income test program.
The best test I could imagine (to compare existing programs to the basic income,) would be for the federal government to grant waivers for all social welfare programs to some states, give them the equivalent amount of money, and have them each implement their own basic income program (at a level they see fit, with the state paying for any cost difference).
- mikeash 12y agoAlaska already has, although not at a scale large enough to make a particularly big difference.
- anigbrowl 12y agoAlaska distributes oil royalties to citizens of the state. If the wells suddenly dried up, so would the checks.
- Turing_Machine 12y agoNope. The checks come from the Alaska Permanent Fund. While the original funding source was indeed oil (and new oil revenue continues to be paid into it), the checks come from returns on investing past oil revenue, not current oil revenue. If the oil stopped flowing tomorrow, the Permanent Fund would still be there. Alaska was fortunate in having a government (at least at that time) that actually planned for the future. http://www.apfc.org/home/Content/aboutFund/aboutPermFund.cfm http://www.apfc.org/home/Content/aboutFund/aboutPermFund.cfm
- JimBarrows 12y ago40 some odd countries have, and it's working.
- scarmig 12y agoWhat do you mean by this? 40 countries certainly don't have BI, as much as I wish they did.
- VLM 12y agoYet as a counterexample socialized medicine works better than the USA system in every country on the planet, but we're still stuck with the USA system here. Even if a B.I. is implemented in every country on the planet, we'll still be the last holdout.
- JoeAltmaier 12y agoDoesn't have to be Federal. Doesn't Alaska have a BI already?
- oldmanjay 12y agoWhen you get all hyperbolic and say stuff like "every country on the planet" or the other favorite, "the rest of the world" you make it simple for people who disagree to seize upon the lie and ignore your point.