What would you do with an extra $1,000 per month? 💲 Would it be just really nice to have, or would it be enough to change your life? Now, what if it came with some heavy (though admittedly bigger picture) strings? Guaranteed basic income, aka Universal Basic Income or UBI, is one of those ideas that sounds awesome but is really hard to pull off. Let’s dig into it and see why.
Here are Five Fast Facts on guaranteed basic income:
- 💰 What Is It - Guaranteed Basic Income is the idea that a government gives all citizens money on a periodic basis. If you can fog a mirror, you get a check.
- 🌍 Around The World - It’s not a common practice around the world. South Korea, Kenya, and Brazil have some form of it currently ongoing, and a handful of others (the US included) have attempted some form of small scale pilot program at some point in the last few years. No one has gone all in on it yet (not even those Middle Eastern countries with oil barons and princesses!)
- 👍 Why It’s Great - Supporters of basic income say that it’s an anti-poverty measure that improves the standard of living in the form of better health outcomes, housing, food security, and employment. They point to such programs as helping reduce crime, and that’s the primary reason for an overall economic win. It’s also a vehicle to allow people to follow their passions rather than be locked into drudgery work simply to make a paycheck, especially with the threat of AI eliminating lots of jobs. Also, puppies and rainbows!
- 👎 Why It’s Not Great - Opponents of basic income say it’s a flawed idea that simply makes people more dependent on the government. They say work will never go away even with AI and automation, and that work productivity is key to an empowered, healthy, happy life, and that basic income is nothing more than handouts to pacify the masses rather than providing actual opportunity for growth and independence. #realitycheck
- 🤯 The Numbers - The only way to plausibly make it work is to dismantle/replace all other social programs, but those are more targeted and therefore more effective at solving specific issues. Even then, it would require a doubling of the federal income tax to provide just $1,000 per month. Um, that doesn’t seem like a great deal…
🔥Bottom line: Very few would argue that our social support systems couldn’t use some improvements, but we need to be super careful about going down this path. It’s hard to see how taking down every other support program while doubling the federal tax rate for just a grand a month is a win. And, you might call us crazy, but while we’re all about Paychecks here, we’re also about earning them in a way that builds up our society and helps individuals be the best they can be.
What do you think about guaranteed basic income?
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