Basic income is the worst response to automation

Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by gcorneu on Monday January 16, 2017 @09:38AM (#13410170)

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the concept of universal basic income based on the idea that everyone who is a citizen, regardless of earnings/wealth/background, gets a set amount of money? Rather than the scaling mechanism based on earnings as stated in this article.

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Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by Rekaiden on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:17AM (#13410795)

You are correct. The article is flatly wrong when it suggests that people would lose the UBI as they start making money elsewhere. It is not global unemployment insurance.

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Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by yummyfajitas on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:36AM (#13410966)

Yes, the article is flatly wrong. It's conflating this situation:

    +100k earnings
    +0 UBI
    ------
    +100k

with this mathematically equivalent situation:

    +100k earnings
    +20k UBI
    -20k taxes
    ------
    +100k

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Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by cderwin on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:45AM (#13411028)

There are certainly UBI proposals in which at some point UBI does scale back. I don't see a good reason why it scaling back would disqualify it from being a UBI, and I certainly see little likeness to unemployment insurance.

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Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by tonyedgecombe on Monday January 16, 2017 @02:11PM (#13412138)

I guess the justification for not scaling it back would be that it makes it more palatable for the people paying for it. If someone received $10,000 in UBI and payed $10,000 in tax it would be neutral but their attitude to other recipients might be different.

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Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by mcguire on Monday January 16, 2017 @12:36PM (#13411459)

If every citizen gets a check for $30,000 every year, where does the money come from?

If you make more than the basic income, at some point you have to go from getting a check to writing a check.

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Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by tynpeddler on Monday January 16, 2017 @11:52AM (#13411090)

There are several suggested implementations of UBI, one of which is based on negative income tax. In that case, the amount of money you get from the government is based on how much money you make.

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Re:Basic income is the worst response to automation by atemerev on Monday January 16, 2017 @10:47AM (#13410582)

"Scaling mechanism" is based on progressive and/or implicit taxation for financing basic income, not on the amount to be received.

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