Universal Basic Income Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Scam

Re:Universal Basic Income Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Scam by jameslk on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @02:13PM (#18187489)

> Think of it: The government prints more money or perhaps — god forbid — it taxes some corporate profits, then it showers the cash down on the people so they can continue to spend. As a result, more and more capital accumulates at the top.

This sounds like a non sequitur. How does UBI lead to capital accumulating at the top? Couldn't it reasonably accumulate to whichever company creates the most value efficiently? Isn't that one of the features of capitalism?

If the issue is monopolistic behaviors of companies, this is what the author should be attacking.

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Re:Universal Basic Income Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Scam by Terr_ on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @03:02PM (#18187893)

> How does UBI lead to capital accumulating at the top?

It all depends on how you fund the UBI from different households (and their holding-companies, trusts, offshore bank accounts, etc.) versus how well each of those groups can recapture it from the economic engine.

There are probably scenarios where the UBI could be used to cause a net-benefit to the top 1%, based on net-losses among the 90-99th percentiles. That the bottom 90% see a minor benefit would just a side-effect.

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Re:Universal Basic Income Is Silicon Valley’s Latest Scam by yuhong on Wednesday October 10, 2018 @03:12PM (#18187967)

The current debt-based economy is already encouraging concentration of dollars at the top already.

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