News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Assessing a Claim: Is San Francisco's Shoplifting Problem Fake?. Parent comment

Re:Assessing a Claim: Is San Francisco's Shoplifting Problem... by ashwagary on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @08:21PM (#30609871)
There is a happy medium between open shoplifting sprees and the state murdering people over $20. I'm hopeful we will find it with more experimentation and personally suspect that it looks like UBI.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Assessing a Claim: Is San Francisco's Shoplifting Problem... by seanmcdirmid on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @09:42PM (#30610354)
That’s only if you see it as a people in need problem. If you see it as a drug addiction problem, UBI could actually make things worse.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Assessing a Claim: Is San Francisco's Shoplifting Problem... by ashwagary on Wednesday March 09, 2022 @12:40PM (#30617579)
Hard for me to say which is worse.. It's not obvious whether drug addicts with adequate means of procuring a steady supply would be more dangerous to society than ones in desperation.

Portugal may have the answers but I have yet to look into this deeply enough to make a claim either way.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Assessing a Claim: Is San Francisco's Shoplifting Problem... by seanmcdirmid on Wednesday March 09, 2022 @04:28PM (#30620227)
> It's not obvious whether drug addicts with adequate means of procuring a steady supply would be more dangerous to society than ones in desperation.

It would definitely be worse for them, if we moralistically care about their well being. They would also probably still need housing and food given to them, as their addiction would often prevent them from prioritizing those things with the UBI they got. UBI isn't a panacea to these problems, at least.

[ Parent | on HN ]