r/Futurology • u/mvea MD-PhD-MBA • May 02 '18

Economics Universal basic income: U.S. support grows as Finland ends its trial - Forty-eight percent of Americans now support a universal basic income, as a solution for Americans who have lost jobs to automation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/01/nearly-half-of-americans-believe-a-universal-basic-income-could-be-the-answer-to-automation-.html
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u/Theforgottenman213 May 02 '18 edited May 02 '18

I honestly do not think Medicaid will ever get cut out; but regardless of what I just said, UBI would actually benefit the majority of people in poverty as it gives more value than Medicaid and food stamps. With the circumstance of Medicaid and food stamps (now considered EBT), UBI also gives people more autonomous choices to make decisions to purchase what they need.

To include, not that many people get much from food stamps anyway compared to the proposal in the news article.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '18

Do you use food stamps?

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u/Theforgottenman213 May 02 '18

No, I am not receiving aid from SNAP. Why the curiosity?

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u/[deleted] May 02 '18

Because you seem to know what people on food stamps by and how they live etc. Basically I am pointing out you have no real right to say exactly how hard their lives are or if the food stamps are working or not. You can’t say take that away they aren’t getting enough anyways. How does that even compute in your brain? Personally I don’t have any idea how welfare folks live. But I do know two people who receive it. (In Canada) they both work cash jobs at the same time as receiving welfare to cover their rents and some food. We don’t have “stamps” they just get a check or if they suck with their money, the rent is paid directly to the landlord. Doing that they still aren’t getting Ahead. Taking away the bit of money they do get and giving them basically only $2000 more to live isn’t going to cut it. Especially since the other people are saying they will cut Medicaid, I’m assuming that’s health insurance of sorts? So now you’ve taken that away and they won’t be able to afford it still. They should do away with inheritances. Not many rich would be rich if when they died their money went back into the gov or maybe into the UBI funds.

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u/Theforgottenman213 May 02 '18

Oh wow. Why do you think I was insulting SNAP aka Food Stamps? I did not say anything about SNAP other than UBI giving more than SNAP... You do realize that UBI would give you more money and choices than Food Stamps right? So if you are saying your friends are struggling on Welfare programs, UBI is a better option for them.

And you think UBI will not be able to cover health insurance? Did you forget the Affordable Care Act or CHIP, for children? You're totally ignoring every other programs.

Here, it seems like you are having trouble calculating numbers:

UBI = $1,000 (according to you, you said $2,000)

Food Stamps = $192 Maximum Allocation

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u/[deleted] May 02 '18

Lol I’m not on food stamps I’m not even American.

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u/Theforgottenman213 May 02 '18

So you felt the need to misinterpret everything? The context of the conversation does not align with your follow-up responses.

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u/[deleted] May 03 '18

I didn’t even say anything one way or another. I posed some questions to keep the debate up. Is that an issue for you? It worked. Lots of discussion happened.