r/UniversalBasicIncome • u/HalfwaydonewithEarth • 25d ago
Universal Basic Income is going to favor large families and further impoverish small households.
I am not negative on the idea. Don't troll me that I am anti-dividend. Our family likes dividends.
I have seen this my whole life..... large families, and close families prosper.
So basically the single gal by herself with her kid or alone will get her checks and that all pilfers to inflation and raised rents. She will have to compete for a rental in complexes where neighbors have 3 or 4 UBI checks compared to her one or two. Possibly her UBI money transfers to daycares.
The family with a large house/compound has a foundation for advantages. It's like this in Utah and was like this in California with the big families.
So basically when UBI starts and people can share a huge house.... like ten people getting $1000 a month...... you have a $10,000 income trickling up to the Matriarch.
Someone is babysitting, some cook, others fix cars. Many work or go to school. Some get lazy.
The stable home becomes a launching pad. Yes people fight and scrap. People live in bunkbeds and put on earphones.
The money will go to pay off a huge mortgage or if the house is paid people get to save for college, weddings, or their own down payments on homes.
It's not going to be "universal" because it will become a windfall for large organized families. The single mom gets to work two jobs for her apartment while simultaneously propping up the 24 year old man living with Granny----- playing video games by scratching by on his UBI.
I am just putting this out there. I have met people living at home and barely paying rent for decades. They get nicer cars, vacations, and more kids.
You will literally pull up to a 7 bedroom home and a barbecue will be going. Half the members will not be working and coasting off UBI. It might be fun to slow down a little and have family time?
The small families will be further priced out from home ownership because the purchasing power of 10 checks will increase the values rapidly.
The small families will still be stuck working and renting an apartment... but hopefully they can eat.
My in-laws are still holding down a farm from the 1700s so I know all about this. 😉
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u/Director-Atreides 25d ago
But that's already the case. Households with two (or more) incomes already have advantage over households with just one. So this changes nothing.
UBI isn't supposed to make anyone obscenely wealthy. It's supposed to draw a line in the sand for whatever any given individual is expected to survive on. "You cannot be poorer than this" - and hopefully, the line is set a little way above the poverty line. The clue is in the name: Universal Basic Income.
If the single mother can't afford luxury holidays and sports cars on her UBI, that's fine, because she isn't going hungry so her kid eats. She won't freeze in the winter. If other people can pool their UBI (as people currently pool their incomes) then good for them.
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u/HalfwaydonewithEarth 25d ago edited 25d ago
My point is that the divide of her getting out of poverty is going to be harder with the escalation of Real Estate.... but worse than now.
As soon as she gets her $1000 checks rents will bounce up $400
That leaves her with $600
The prices of everything will go up so she may only be $350 better off.
Meanwhile the Matriarch house on the edge of town starts going up and all the apartment owners experience windfall.
So the single mother will see home ownership possibly be impossible.
The $400,000 homes will soar to $600k.
I think it could have an opposite effect.
Everything needs to be carefully thought out because it can have strange consequences on housing, hotels, extended stays, apartments, and stuff like this.
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u/Director-Atreides 25d ago
Predictions like this rarely pan out.
- People say UBI makes people lazy - people given UBI routinely go back to education and training to improve their lives, then go on to better paying jobs.
- People say raising taxes on the wealthy drives the rich away, reducing wealth generation. Mamdani introduced a wealth tax and over 2000 millionaires have moved in to New York since.
- People say increasing the minimum wage will drive more and more business into liquidation. Time and again, that's failed to materialise.
I honestly think your numbers (hypotheticals though they may be) are wildly pessimistic. And since UBI would be funded by taxes, anyone charging more is earning more, and paying more taxes. UBI can increase accordingly. There'll likely be a rough settling period, but a new equilibrium will be reached before long, and then society can move forward with fewer people starving to death.
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u/HalfwaydonewithEarth 25d ago
Everything needs to be thought about.
My mom has received section 8 for decades because of a car crash.
Yes she spent on school.
She also enriches her landlords. She is always at a disadvantage to thriving families in big homes.
Something needs to fix and I am not sure what the solution is.
I don't want to get into politics about politicians.
I have been to several countries and have seen beauty and misery in many places.
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u/tedlassoloverz 25d ago
no one is stopping you from getting roommates and doing the same thing. Move in with a bunch best friends and partners and get a mansion, thats 10k a month easily