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Re:Universal basic income of £1,600 a month to be trialled i... by bluefishinit on Sunday June 04, 2023 @11:14AM (#36186253)
I think you need to pair UBI with public housing, public health care and ideally a nice sack of healthy groceries delivered to your door every week. Provide a baseline of dignified living for all.

Our economy is not currently structured to support this, but I don't see any other options for the future. It's also quite a nice step forward in humanity to use our technology to increase everyone's quality of life.

I personally believe MMT is an option to make this happen. Print money to basically zero out all debt with inflation but provide everything someone needs to live while you do it. The first step on the path to a post-scarcity reality.

Re:Universal basic income of £1,600 a month to be trialled i... by seanmcdirmid on Sunday June 04, 2023 @11:19AM (#36186297)
> I personally believe MMT is an option to make this happen. Print money to basically zero out all debt with inflation but provide everything someone needs to live while you do it. The first step on the path to a post-scarcity reality.

If you do that without having a post-scarcity economy/reality, surely the result will look more like mad max and not Star Trek? Zeroing out debts would be a huge boon to the rich, although they would need to invest in guns to protect the property they no longer have to pay a mortgage for.

Re:Universal basic income of £1,600 a month to be trialled i... by bluefishinit on Sunday June 04, 2023 @11:31AM (#36186390)
Like I said, it needs to be paired with public issuance of everything someone needs to survive a dignified existence (not the case for Mad Max).
Re:Universal basic income of £1,600 a month to be trialled i... by seanmcdirmid on Sunday June 04, 2023 @11:40AM (#36186463)
That’s fine if society can afford it. If we do it, we must already be at a post scarcity economy, otherwise it will be disastrous. It can’t just be in the path to a post scarcity economy. People have really high standards on what dignified living means.