Why UBI?
The details and quotations for this post can all be found at this address: https://basicincometoday.com/2-year-ubi-pilot-in-uganda-results-in-more-happiness-education-entrepreneurship-savings-and-independence/.
“We see a lot of inequality, and that is so unfair. A lot of people think poverty is a character problem, but it’s a money problem.”
There are a lot of posts on Steem recently detailing Scams. As the quotation by Maarten Goethals and Steven Janssens noted above, if people had access to economic resources - money - people would not need to cross the ethical Rubicon. If you have water, you can drink; if you have food, you can eat; et cetera.
Likely because of the freedom and dignity it allows, UBI yields remarkable results in lifting people out of poverty.
For over two weeks, I have been promoting Steemians, and I have decided to make eight "people" to be beneficiaries on every UBI post. They each receive 10 percent. I am only a person whose points of view are worth two cents. Thanks to people who support this idea, each person is averaging four cents. Over time, I hope that my rewards will grow so that my beneficiaries can be assured a good daily income. I think the model will progress, so hopefully, some of my beneficiaries will adopt a daily UBI post, and they, in turn, would "sponsor" eight people and so on. Much like the movie "Pay It Forward," this is something we can do together.
This idea isn't a program some government mandates which forces people to spend money on what the government decides; it is individuals choosing to do whatever they want, all with a click of a button.
Only 50% of children in the village went to school before the unconditional cash transfers began compared with 94.7% after. Twenty businesses populated the town compared to the two that stood before the program. All markers of poverty declined with the advent of cash and choice.
These benefits happened by giving every adult in a Ugandan village 16 euros per month and every child 8 euros per month. That is roughly 38 Steem (and 19 Steem). That would be less than 3 Steem Dollars (and 1.5 SBD) per month. That is close to the amount my beneficiaries would receive per month at my current reward level.
The only thing that I can see that distinguishes Steem from Euros at this point is that you can spend Euros in many stores in many countries. So far, I am only aware of one "Steem-Mart" in one country (Kazakhstan). If this post could be resteemed or if individuals can ask their friends if other stores will accept Steem, I would be interested to know.