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My impression is that the proponents of guaranteed minimum income would blame the current system on all that TV watching. People right now would sometimes be d

My impression is that the proponents of guaranteed minimum income would blame the current system on all that TV watching. People right now would sometimes be discouraged from earning a little money if it reduces benefits. What else can be done? Volunteering, experimenting, even education (if not 100% applicable for job-hunt) is not encouraged or regarded highly as people are under pressure to find work. Finally, being unemployed is automatically a failure on some level, and if that persists, hopelessness and maybe a mild depression might set in. So the idea would be to remove that pressure and see if people are really intrinsically lazy, or in general let's see if that changes society in a cool way. Maybe some stable, smaller country could go ahead and try it out?

MichaelCrawford 12y ago
The penalty for riding the TriMet MAX light rail without a ticket is a $170.00 citation. I ride without paying all the time. I just dress respectably. Like today I'm wearing a dress shirt and silk necktie. I've never been cited. I got caught red-handed once by a cop; when I told him I was on my way to see my doctor, he pulled a transit pass out of his pocket, popped it in the validation machine, handed it to me then requested I pay for my future train rides. The main reason I do ride around the trains without paying, is that I am more effective at looking for a job when I take the train to downtown Portland. Most of the places I've lived around here haven't been so conducive to my work productivity.
- MichaelCrawford 12y ago
  To be clear, I do pay when I can. Just today I bought a two-week pass. When I get some steady work, I'm going to send a big fat check to the TriMet board, along with a letter of apology.