And yet people didn’t take advantage of it and instead quit and farted around with the money. Not everyone of course, for many people it was critical but also for many it was a reason to quit and fart around and not follow their hearts to art or hobbies or something else productive as some UBI proponents predicted very hopefully.

A benefit that had an anticipated end date of within a year is, as the previous poster stated, too volatile. It was treated as a temporary windfall instead of a new reality that could be relied on and planned around

How much money do you think people got? Most people got around $2k over a two years. How is $1k/yr enough to quit a job and “fart around” with the money?

>instead quit and farted around with the money.

Citation needed. You read too much reddit.

There were record high # of businesses being created during the pandemic. There's anecdotes that it is because they had the opportunity to do so now with some extra cash + time off.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/business/startup-business... https://www.npr.org/2022/01/12/1072057249/new-business-appli...

I had also seen some articles (citation needed!) that part of the employee crunch low-wage businesses are feeling is due to employees in those jobs taking their covid-money+time and training/interviewing/applying for office jobs.

I don't think we have a measure on how many people got to pursue their hobbies (rather than 'farting around'), though I'm not sure it matters. UBI proponents don't think that all people will do something 'valuable' though, just that it will be a net positive.