Submitted by robottroymacclure in CapitalismInDecay

What is Raddles opinion on the Universal Basic Income? is it a worthwhile way to ameliorate social inequality by just giving people money? would you accept it if it might turn into a tool of social control down the road? what are your thoughts?

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jaidedctrl wrote

It might be a social good in the very short term, but you'll see welfare and important public services being cut almost immediately— and the UBI given to people won't be enough to make up for it. It will hurt people more than help them at that point— and even then, it'll dwindle to a smaller and smaller amount until it's almost useless, like every other safety net eventually does. We'll be stuck in this terrible loop until we abolish Capitalism.

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retiredshared2 wrote

Capitalists will just increase the cost of services and goods to reinstate the master-slave dynamic. Maybe one generation will benefit and well have another set of socialist leaning boomers who think they earned this, but it will crash.

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robottroymacclure OP wrote

Libertarians and tech minded people love the idea as long as its based on a digital currency backed up by the block chain. the belief is that basing UBI around some kind of digital currency/ledger will make it a fool proof system that cant be hacked as easily or broken by politics.

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carol wrote

From what I've read about it I do think UBI could theoretically work, free money does get people out of poverty.

Capitalists will lower wages, this is not necessarily a problem if UBI is high, because it would make people less dependent on work. Landlords and banks will abuse it to increase the prices of housing.

For UBI to be good it has to be really unconditional, and high enough to comfortably live on; and to stay high in the long run it should be indexed to the real prices of housing, food, water, internet, gas. That's bad for inflation, but that's what I think it takes.

It probably should replace unemployment benefits, but some will also want it to replace things it cannot, like healthcare or disability checks.

UBI would likely fail because whoever implements it will compromise with those that want it to fail or want an awful version of it.

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theblackcat wrote (edited )

Another form of corporate socialism to maintain growth when no one gets paid enough to buy stuff from corporations.

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