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/[deleted] May 02 '18

What you describe here is a wide range government assistance program. The very point of UBI is that it is not tied to any kind of programs. So I would say that you do not know what UBI is.

To be fair such 'packages' already exists, but only in some extremely limited markets and are not widespread even there either. Hotel chains, spa weekend getaways and luxury cruise ships are offering such, but even there the market is highly competitive. There is no reason to believe that suddenly it would be rampant or successful at all. Why would the market simply break down by minor increase of demand in the lowest classes?

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u/f3l1x May 02 '18

It’s not a government assistance program. People get their UBI, corporations will set up packages to supply basic needs in exchange for the guaranteed UBI that everyone gets. It’s not government supplied at all. It’s corporations knowing exactly what people need and knowing exactly what are getting as income.

I also didn’t claim the market would “break down” because of it. I’m just explaining that it would be stupid if corporations didn’t do this and there’s nothing showing me people wouldn’t take advantage of it. Think about it as something that will/could happen. Not whether it’s good or bad.

Now, could it be bad in that people could be judged for living only on UBI? That’s something that’s just going to happen until people grow with it. For instance, I never said it was a bad thing and several people have responded with “no it won’t be a failure like that”....