IMHO, a large number of idle people is not good for society either. People need a purpose in life, and a great many people don't seem very good at making up their own. Otherwise there's a strong chance that they'll become depressed, and often start abusing drugs, and then it's just a big spiral downward.

As dumb as it is, that stupid job at least gives them a reason to get up in the morning, maybe even a bit of satisfaction from time to time.

These universal income ideas have the notion that your average joe will decide to learn an instrument, or maybe practice swimming, or maybe backpack across the country. In the real world they'll sit on the couch all day watching TV or playing video games and/or getting high. Universal income won't work until we figure out how to not turn the country into rural West Virginia with it.

Or as Picard put it: You see, one of the most important things in a person's life is to feel useful.