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Go back 7 years to pull a data point to compare France's unemployment rate. huh???
Why don't I go back 20 years for an even better comparison of the USA with France today? How about 50 years? Older is better. It's very relevant.
It's still nowhere near worthy of the description he was contesting ("massive and permanent idleness") nor could working French be statistically characterized as "the few" based on that unemployment number.
No. Communism means the state owns all the businesses and there's no private ownership of property.
Believe it or not, basic income is recommended by "free market" and liberal economists (liberal,in the economic sense, not the USA left wing sense.) The idea is that it's cheaper to just give people money, rather than have the huge bureaucratic infrastructure that accompanies means based welfare. I.e. rather than having food stamps, WIC, SNAP, disability, obama care, obama phones, section 8, all the other programs, and thus all the social workers and administrators receiving government paychecks and lifetime pensions, you just give everyone a few hundred bucks every month and let the market take care of the services.
Unfortunately it will never happen in the USA since we already have all those other programs already, and none of those government employees are going to let go of their cushy jobs...
Yes, people need to stop confusing basic income with need based welfare for the poor. Basic income would go to EVERYONE, rich, poor and everyone in between would get the same amount. If every person were to get just enough for an extremely basic life, just enough to eat, and afford the most minimal housing, clothes, etc. they would be no need for welfare. Very few people would be content with such a basic life, most people work to get raises, better jobs, new cars, better houses, etc. Most people are going to strive for more.
The fact is anybody could decide to quit their jobs, and go on welfare right now. Most people don't want that kind of life even though according to CD, welfare is the bomb, it's living the high life while sitting on the couch all day watching Judge Judy, and playing with one's iPhone, but most people know this is patently false. In reality, most of us would find having a very low basic income highly lacking. No way in heck would I quit my business, and give up my nice house, car, the entertainment, and everything else the money I make above a basic living allows me to enjoy. Almost every person I have ever met is striving to get promoted, or change jobs to make more money, and do better over time. If people are inherently lazy why wouldn't we all quit at just enough to survive?
I doubt the job market would change much. Plenty of people would still work at McDonald's to be able to afford nicer things. More people would probably chose to start their own business, or go back to school, and pursue something more innovative with their time if they knew they wouldn't end up starving.
Go back 7 years to pull a data point to compare France's unemployment rate. huh???
Why don't I go back 20 years for an even better comparison of the USA with France today? How about 50 years? Older is better. It's very relevant.
I don't know what you mean. Sure, unemployment in France has been on the rise the last couple of years, but 10.8% is well within normal parameters. It's nothing like present day Spain or Greece, and never has been. Even Germany has had worse years, even decades of unemployment than France ever has. In any case, the idea that France is an economy where the elite make huge sums and most people do nothing is way off the mark. We already have a much better example of that kind of economy - the United States of America.
Why are people looking at other countries? Though I hate to use them as an example, native americans here in the US get a "basic income" and they aren't known for their productivity. I know a few of them and they are great people. But even they say that it's poor living conditions on the reservations as a whole.
Part of the reason that we have no basic income is because it's inherently "unAmerican." It takes a markedly different culture to actually implement this in real life because of how we feel about money, work, our peers, capitalism, the government, independence, self-sufficiency, etc.
I don't think native americans are a great example. Maybe, if we also took away the property of everyone receiving the basic income and marched them off onto reservations in the least desirable parts of the USA and set them up as semi-sovereign nations complete with their own set of laws. There is not really an example of basic income in the developed world. It's never been tried anywhere.
You don't want to use native americans because they have their own laws? other countries have their own laws too...
We marched their ancestors off their lands, but the current generations have not been forced anywhere. Last I heard, the US army isn't "keeping" them on the reservations. They have free movement around the US as much as any other American.
You can't just cherry pick a few european countries with basic income and point out how well it works for them and why we should have it here when I can point out groups that have it and it didn't work out so well for them either.
and don't get me wrong, I don't mind basic income if everything else was taken away (including unemployment, food stamps, childcare, etc, but I would leave medicare alone, everyone should have basic health too). If some idiots want to buy steaks for a week and starve for a month, that's their choice. But today, they wouldn't because they would qualify for another program.
I wouldn't have wasted three years of my life in law school.
In fact, I might not work at all.
Oh, wait, that's what happens when government gives people free stuff anyway...
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