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RE: What is Universal Basic Income and why support it?
The problem will be the gouvernment. The idea is nice and pleasent... however I see 2 big issues :
- Inflation
- Once everybody and theirs mothers will be enroled to this scheme, Gouvernment will start to place conditions and take away your freedom. "Sorry we are in crisis, IF you want to continue to have free money, you will have to place an RFID under skin..."
We should stay away from ALL gouvernement proposals, we do not need them
I agree that these are major potential problems that we need to consider.
One way to get around both of them is to create a basic income that is not controlled by the government - for example, a cryptocurrency basic income. It can even be programmed to increase to keep up with inflation, and would be resistant to corruption and government control.
Then as I mentioned, let's not do UBI via government. Steemit's the first platform of its kind, but it surely won't be the last.
In regards to inflation, please read this to be better informed of all the variables involved: https://medium.com/basic-income/wouldnt-unconditional-basic-income-just-cause-massive-inflation-fe71d69f15e7#.11s7qo7v4
In regards to government suddenly placing conditions on something that by definition has no conditions, I look at real world examples of programs like Social Security and the annual Alaska dividend, and just don't see that fear being anything other than a fear: http://www.scottsantens.com/wont-basic-income-give-too-much-power-to-whomever-distributes-it
It sounds like you think of government as a big bad bogeyman. I'm not going to try and persuade you otherwise, but I will point out that there are even anarchists who support the idea of a basic income because it will drastically reduce the size of the state in how many people it employs, and will also drastically reduce the number of programs run by the state as well as reducing the ability of the state to coerce people into doing things.
The safety net exists and it is means-tested. This grants a great deal of power to the state because it is the one deciding whether someone is deserving of assistance or not. UBI destroys that power. The government no longer gets to decide who is worthy or unworthy. It no longer gets to apply tests, and invent jobs for the people giving the tests. It will instead just transfer funds directly into the banks accounts of all citizens, and in so doing, reduce the need for a great deal of other programs, as well as a great deal of other expenses, like for example in health care and the criminal justice systems.
Basic income means more freedom, not less, and if you care about freedom, you should care about granting it to more people.