I was once talking with one of my classmates and he said that in the future, there will be universal basic income implemented by entire world. I was not convinced at that time and thought he is just being stupid but given the layoffs happening and massive amount of unemployment, I am thinking about this possibility. What do you say?
I in my heart of hearts see UBI as unworkable and inflationary, as universal basic income doesn’t set universal basic buying power which is very hard to do without a socialist system guaranteeing housing, food, etc. I also don’t believe people are ok with a disconnection between work and financial value. Money is one of the few ways to quantify the value of work and humans in general have a need to feel what they do is valued, particularly if it takes up so much of human identity and what they do on a day to day.
It’s common for retirees or others who are able to cover living costs without paid work to do unpaid work with their religious congregation or for local charities. Being a valued coworker doing work recognized as making the community better doesn’t require being paid.
Alaska has had their Permanent Fund for decades, and it’s not been shown to be inflationary. At some (I believe much) higher amount of money distribution, UBI would be inflationary, sure, but there’s a lot of benefits to be had at lower support levels.
i disagree. food prices would not go up. prices are set by supply and demand. demand would not change. imagine a society with 1 million people. all of them need to eat, whether they earn their money through wages or get it through UBI. the demand for food does not change. i don’t see a reason why supply would change either. so prices stay the same.
do you have any rational argument against this?