Quote (Black XistenZ @ Sep 17 2019 11:23am)
the thing is, giving some groups an almost unconditional basic income while others have to keep slogging would be toxic politics.
"you lost your job, and as a reward, you get to sit at home on taxpayer money while I have to grind it out in the plant" would be a common sentiment, and economically conservative Republicans would be more than happy to exploit it.
nothing about the "start slow" approach to UBI says that a live-able income need be provided, nor that the money be provided from the general tax pool. automation taxes have been floated as an idea for a while, and in Alaska where UBI already exists the payouts are far less than an income.
reality is that in the worst affected placed we have economic dead zones. where 20-30 years ago the economy wasn't powerful, but stable. people flee these areas, housing markets are nonexistent, no new investment, etc. Deep coal country, Flynt MI, Lead country in PA, etc. the reality also tho is these places aren't sites of mass ritualistic suicide or mass starvation, what do i mean by that? I mean that while there is no economy there to speak of people still live there and still exist. they homestead and live on scraps, they take shitty part time employment just to scrape by, they sell things on the black market, etc. So if they used to make 30k$/year, and now make 10k$/year, and now spend most of their time living off their own resources and land, an extra 2-3k$/year can drastically change the sliding economy of the region. these dead zones are also terrible for both the state tax collections and even interstate trade. where u used to have a trading partner or tax base you now have not only a black spot but also a large draw on welfare and food stamp programs. we're already dumping tax dollars into regions with very little return. sometimes a tire wont take air, you can massage it, pump up the PSI on the air pressure, you can try just about anything. but if you want to do it right you bust out the can of ether and a match.
This post was edited by thesnipa on Sep 17 2019 10:36am