If a company is happily paying white collar worker wages to people who are that big a waste of space, why not pay them $20k in UBI and let them go, $20k to someone who needs it, and not waste everyone's time? Let those people have the safety net necessary to find themselves, so to speak. Worst case is they stay on and we're in the same situation we're in now; best case they leave and figure out what motivates them.
>Worst case is they stay on and we're in the same situation we're in now
I think I disagree with this. Similar to point above, they can go from providing a marginal amount of value to justify being a net negative on the balance sheet by staying home and collecting UBI. Ideally, they will find a way to contribute to society but I’m not convinced many or most would, given anecdotal observations. I’m not taking some Randian stance here, but I can at least imagine a scenario where there are more takers than providers because it’s the easier path and we seem wired to prefer to minimize personal costs. I don’t think it’s a situation where there’s next to no downside as you suggest.
Most game theory seems to devolve when freeloading is not kept in check. With all the talk about the benefits of UBI, I hear very little about checks and balances if it doesn’t work. I’m currently in favor of it but would like to see a bit more due diligence in terms of guardrails
I think the concern is there may not be enough “ambitious” people to maintain productivity to sustain the non-ambitious folks.
Thinking back to a previous job that most people would probably assume employees incredibly driven people, I can honestly say many were not. Hours wasted on long lunches/breakfasts/breaks, surfing the Internet for auctions, bouncing from office to office for hours to gossip, really anything to distract them from the work that needs done, all the while complaining there wasn’t enough time in the day to get it completed. If a “world class” organization is like this I don’t want to know what a “lesser” one is like.
The best employees are always those who value the work itself. I think very few people find their work intrinsically motivating and are only doing it because of an extrinsic reward (status, money, whatever). Unfortunately, after talking to many in that former organization I don’t think they have a very good grasp on what is intrinsically motivating to themselves.