> It should make it remarkably cheap to run, comparatively.
You're assuming that it would be possible to simply eliminate government and state services and institutions, both politically and practically.
Instead, everyone working within an organization works to serve their own personal interests. This means that it's practically impossible for an elected official to eliminate all this state cruft, as every single person within the organization would fight tooth and nail to sabotage the project.
You're further reinforcing his point, that people in SV have no clue about politics and government. Ronald Reagan is supposed to have said that a government program is the closest thing to eternal life that we’ve ever seen on Earth. Government programs never die. Period.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/28/government-p...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/even-in-an-era-of-bu...
If it's just moving some bits into everyone's account monthly, entire layers of bureacracy, with their buildings, staff, forms, and fraud checking departments, can be removed. It should make it remarkably cheap to run, comparatively.
Make it lower income only and you have to bring all that back.