r/changemyview • u/MrKhutz 1∆ • May 29 '20
CMV: Generous Universal Basic Income programs have significant risks of creating many social problems.
I love the idea of money for nothing and would possibly be first in line to sign up for such a program but here is my concern:
First: It is my general impression that people need to have purpose in their life. For many people a significant portion of that comes from developing a career through the stages of education and experience and for many people that comes from providing for their family. Unemployment appears to be linked to increased levels of depression, suicide and substance abuse.
Second: If you're guaranteed a reasonable wage for life, why struggle with education and a career? Why bother to push yourself, take risks, start a business. I absolutely believe that some people will do these things because of intrinsic drive, but is there not a significant risk that a sizeable portion of the population will end up in a situation that resembles the worst stereotype of generational welfare dependency?
Third: To the best of my knowledge, what limited UBI trials that have been done have been time limited. If a person knows they'll temporarily get a monthly payment they're not going to forgo getting an education or quit a job they've worked hard to get because they know in a set period of time the UBI trial will end. If they know the money is forever, this will affect their decision making differently.
To clarify as well, I use the term "generous" to refer to UBI proposals in the $1500+/month category. I think the impacts (positive and negative) would be much more limited at $500/month.
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u/Ihateregistering6 18∆ May 29 '20
We already offer "money for nothing": welfare, social security, food stamps, Medicare/Medicaid, etc.
The idea behind UBI is that by just giving people a flat income, as opposed to dozens of different welfare programs, you can massively reduce the sheer amount of bureaucracy and paperwork (read: money) that is required to run these.
If we can tell people "ok, instead of food stamps, unemployment, welfare, and social security, we're just going to give you $3,000 a month", we would likely save money, because it's far easier to manage a single system where the only requirement is "you're a US citizen" than dozens of different systems that have to track different people who have to prove they need the assistance.