What are your thoughts on universal basic income?
UBI would be the final nail in the coffin for a merit based society
1. UBI is welfare justified
If one is able to work removing the stigma of not working is promoting lethargy
2. When life is too easy less is accomplished
Many parts of the world especially in the hotter climates and closer to the equator have an easier lifestyle. It is often easier to feed and house yourself if you do not have to worry about cold or lack of naturally growing food. However, if you come from a colder climate your life may be more challenging just to survive. It is this challenge that has made the industrial world thrive, the constant battle to make life better has created wealth almost everywhere except around the hotter regions and equatorial areas where a house does not need insulation and the need or value of education is not a necessity.
3. UBI is a marxist dream just like Utopia
As the saying goes there is no such thing as a free lunch, by removing opportunities from individuals and making them less motivated and dumber it means more power is concentrated in the few. So as all of history has shown Marxism fails when a few take control over the masses.
4. USA The Land of Opportunity
The USA has shone like a beacon of opportunity and has demonstrated that to date it is the most successful country in the world. This country found its success following a judeo-christian ethos of hard work. My school motto was "to work is to pray" our forefathers fought for the right to be self governing and to provide us with opportunity to make good not a handout. It is better to teach a man to fish than to feed him with just one fish. The USA created a society that is more free than anywhere else in the world with an opportunity to move up in society with no family connections but just a willingness to work and determination to help others.
5. Welfare is for those who need it.
Any society of good conscience has an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. In the past this assistance was given by good people and religious at a local level without any government involvement.
Our current society has largely delegated this to the federal government that has no contact with the recipients or their actual needs making its citizens dependent on handouts. If the motives behind this are around gaining power for a few that is evil not charity.
6. What if AI created a Utopia where no one had to work and we all got UBI
There are so many books on why this fails to satisfy the human spirit. My favorite City and the Stars by Arthur C Clarke. The consequences include a young society that exterminates the elderly.
7. Life is a journey
They say you start out young and poor and vote democrat but as you mature pay taxes and start to enjoy the fruit of your labor you will vote republican. It is true today in the USA that less than half the population pay taxes, and this might be because you no longer have to own land to be able to vote. Whereas Congress was once dominated by farmers it is now dominated by lawyers. Life is much easier now than it was for those farmers and we call this progress but there is a silliness to the laws that congress creates in the modern world, UBI would be right up there.
8. Life is a journey part 2
Life is not always easy and all of us should find the right companion to take on the challenge. However with some luck and determination I believe everyone of us can have a fulfilling and rewarding life. When you write your own obituary do you want to say you achieved nothing had no purpose and survived on UBI?
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