It just surprises me that people don't think we should try and meet the fundamental basic needs of all humans, irrespective of whether those humans "contribute" or not.

it's not as much that, tbh. it's a 3 fold response:

1. they think basic needs for most will be able to be met by individuals for a long time moving forward
2. they're fine generally with providing for people who legit can't help themselves (disabled, etc)
3. they're generally skeptical of aid because they feel those looking to game the system far outnumber those who actually legit need the aid as a last resort

and of course "basic needs" is a hard thing to agree on for a lot of people.

dumb millenials and gen z would still spend the money on candy, video games and popco dust collectors.

horrible idea.

You have to define what fundamental basic needs actually means. You then have to define who is everyone.

Doesn't take a math genius to also acknowledge that a country that takes in millions of illegal immigrants would probably struggle to fulfill this depending on the above 2 definitions.

Those seem pretty easy to me.

Eh, I'm fine being an idealogue who doesn't think that simply because the 9-year-old working on a brick making production in Pakistan has literally something to eat, drink, and sleep in is the kind of world I want to live in.

Luckily in america, the greatest nation on earth, we dont have any of those issues. unclean drinking water is national news, starvation is all but defeated, and chronic homelessness is almost exclusively caused by drug issues and mental health.

is this a moral hazard argument?
its all good for bankers to take insane risks for a chance at profit because they'll get bailed out by taxpayers if they fail, right? but god forbid someone buys a candy bar with government cheese!

This post was edited by gnarjay on Aug 28 2023 02:17pm

Anyone who thinks UBI would work is a complete fool who has been living under a rock the past 4 years.

Guess what: If you print money to give to everyone, inflation happens whether you like it or not and that money isn't worth anything anymore. Hyperinflation. If you give every person 1,000 dollars, you haven't given anything to anyone. Economics is the study of scarcity which anyone in favour of UBI decides to completely ignore

Money can be exchanged for goods and services. Money is NOT a good or service in itself.

Money isn't food, shelter, or security. Money is simply a means of exchange. You cannot eat money, you cannot live in money, and money doesn't protect you. If you give everyone money in accordance with the current cost of living, the cost of living goes up proportionally.

This post was edited by El1te on Aug 28 2023 02:38pm