Re:Don’t Tell Your Friends They’re Lucky
by Karunamon on Thursday January 19, 2017 @01:58PM
(#13438464)
There will naturally be tradeoffs; where we differ is whether those tradeoffs will be worth it.
There already is a secondary market for welfare benefits, to the point where someone who wants to squander it is able to do so, and worth mentioning that the end result to someone who burns their benefits irresponsibly is the same either way, crime or starvation.
Administering the bureaucracy necessary to enforce these controls (of varying effectiveness) carries a very real cost outlay.
With that in mind, UBI carries the promise of significantly less overhead with the idea of identical societal goals.
The alternative is a great ramp-up in the scope and size of welfare systems, like what you might see in the Nordic countries. This idea also has its proponents, but I don't think it would fly in the USA.
There already is a secondary market for welfare benefits, to the point where someone who wants to squander it is able to do so, and worth mentioning that the end result to someone who burns their benefits irresponsibly is the same either way, crime or starvation.
Administering the bureaucracy necessary to enforce these controls (of varying effectiveness) carries a very real cost outlay.
With that in mind, UBI carries the promise of significantly less overhead with the idea of identical societal goals.
The alternative is a great ramp-up in the scope and size of welfare systems, like what you might see in the Nordic countries. This idea also has its proponents, but I don't think it would fly in the USA.