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The notion of the federal government handing out free money used to be a liberal dream and a conservative nightmare. No more.
The coronavirus outbreak, which plunged the nation into an economic free fall, has created an opening for governments and nonprofits to experiment with giving money directly to Americans, with no strings attached.
...
Enacting such payouts permanently faces major obstacles, notably funding. Creating a program that is expected to cost trillions of dollars could necessitate deep cuts in other areas and a reimagining of the nation’s social safety net. Such proposals would also face criticism that they disincentivize work, as critics allege.
It is also uncertain how long bipartisan cooperation will continue once the pandemic — and the accompanying economic pain — abates.
“Everyone’s still in crisis response mode,” said Jesse Rothstein, director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UC Berkeley. “I don’t know anyone who’s done any long-term rethinking. If you asked five years ago whether they thought there would ever be any circumstance where 20% to 30% of people stop working and have government make up that income, it would have been unimaginable.”
Lawmakers will face pressure to extend these benefits, said Joshua Rauh, a Stanford University graduate school professor who served as principal chief economist on President Trump’s Council of Economic Advisors.
My problem with universal basic income is that it encourages people not to work, the government takes my money for charitable purposes when I can give charity myself, and I can give it to people I want to give it to - instead of government picking who gets the money.
I would say the devil's in the details. The key is to make it enough to be useful to get by but not so high people don't want more money. If it were to ever pass I'd probably finally take the leap and start a business I've wanted to try (but haven't because of the financial risk).
UBI has a belief that it will work in part because humans have an inherent need to do more than just the bare minimum. It assumes that people will want to work. The truth is though that if enough people feel comfortable, they wont work. They will resist working.
The fear with UBI is that it can lead to slavery. The top class of society with their billions of dollars is meant to support the masses through high taxation. Despite this, You will still need essential workers. You can only tax everyone so much. Someone will still need to be a garbage man. $2,000 a month guaranteed will make few want to do that job. Thus it would need to be highly paid or people will need to be forced to do the job.
Higher up the chain, doctors and nurses are essential jobs. Pay for those would either need to be raised to entice people to take the risk or people would be forced to go through medical school and work those jobs.
Like with everything, the question is whats the point? If you make it too comfortable, nobody will want to work. If is not comfortable enough, all it will do it raise prices for everyone through inflation.
Every emergency, real or imagined, is considered not just by government, but by the masses as well, as casus belli for stripping/revoking more rights of the people and building a bigger and more oppressive state.
Look at the language FFS - we are AT WAR WITH COVID!!!!
It's Hitlerian propaganda used for the same purpose - get people to surrender their natural rights and do so while cheering their oppressor.
The notion of the federal government handing out free money used to be a liberal dream and a conservative nightmare. No more.
The coronavirus outbreak, which plunged the nation into an economic free fall, has created an opening for governments and nonprofits to experiment with giving money directly to Americans, with no strings attached.
...
Enacting such payouts permanently faces major obstacles, notably funding. Creating a program that is expected to cost trillions of dollars could necessitate deep cuts in other areas and a reimagining of the nation’s social safety net. Such proposals would also face criticism that they disincentivize work, as critics allege.
It is also uncertain how long bipartisan cooperation will continue once the pandemic — and the accompanying economic pain — abates.
“Everyone’s still in crisis response mode,” said Jesse Rothstein, director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UC Berkeley. “I don’t know anyone who’s done any long-term rethinking. If you asked five years ago whether they thought there would ever be any circumstance where 20% to 30% of people stop working and have government make up that income, it would have been unimaginable.”
Lawmakers will face pressure to extend these benefits, said Joshua Rauh, a Stanford University graduate school professor who served as principal chief economist on President Trump’s Council of Economic Advisors.
My problem with universal basic income is that it encourages people not to work, the government takes my money for charitable purposes when I can give charity myself, and I can give it to people I want to give it to - instead of government picking who gets the money.
In a way your right.
But one can argue that now people actually have more time to work on the careers they want and make more money after achieving that.
People not working would be stuck with basic income, not progressing...
People are already doing that now.
But I don't think UBI would be feasible. No one would wanna work the crummy jobs anymore.
The only way it would work would be total automation of the service industry. Which is a long way off.
And even that sound dystopian...
But one can argue that now people actually have more time to work on the careers they want and make more money after achieving that.
People not working would be stuck with basic income, not progressing...
People are already doing that now.
But I don't think UBI would be feasible. No one would wanna work the crummy jobs anymore.
The only way it would work would be total automation of the service industry. Which is a long way off.
And even that sound dystopian...
I'm fine with it. Service jobs suck and customer service is terrible.
It would be better to have people concentrate on something else to better themselves and the unmotivated can make do with minimum and stay out of the way of people who want to work. Then there are people stuck in unemployment for various reasons, who do not qualify for any kind of assistance, and UBI could certainly help them.
Makes you wonder if this was the whole point of the COVID exercise.
"exercise"
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