03/29/2024

Universal Basic Income would only make the state more powerful

Not since the carbon tax has there been a proposal hotter than that of the universal basic income (UBI). Big Tech luminaries such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have expressed support for the scheme.

The idea is that some ultra-lean government body cuts everyone a check periodically. No one is left to live in poverty, because once you establish a reasonable poverty line, the UBI ensures no one lives below it.

. . . For the vast majority, a UBI will create legions of human house cats. So when you pay people to be relatively poorer, they are more likely to remain relatively poorer. Some UBI proponents are convinced that incentive effects will go away. People who are less stressed about meeting their basic needs will actually be more productive, proponents argue, because they will have the financial freedom to experiment with different career options. And one might find anecdotal cases where that could be true.

But for the vast majority, a UBI will create legions of human house cats. Living on a UBI might not be all that uncomfortable if you can afford a room, ramen noodles, and an Xbox to while away the hours. One need only look at the perverse effects of the U.S. welfare state which, in 1996, lead President Bill Clinton to sign a welfare reform bill that was designed to unwind intergenerational cycles of poverty begun largely under President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.

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