I used to support UBI but I’ve soured on it. What people need isn’t income it’s opportunity. Housing, food, and healthcare are the basics we want people to have regardless of their dollar cost. Education and maybe cash to start a business would be other forms of opportunity.

My largest problem with UBI is that there will be a large percentage of the population that will just sit at home. There will be a growing demand for people to work, and prices will just skyrocket to pay the wages of the few willing to work. As those wages go up, more people on UBI will finally get off their butts because even they will no longer afford a cheeseburger at $45 each. but the cycle will just keep going.

In the end we have witnessed that we need stable inflation. If we have fast inflation, then unlimited numbers of people are left behind, for no fault of their own. If inflation is relatively stable, people can adjust slowly, carefully, and both companies and employees benefit from that.

I think UBI will lead to inflation, which is the main reason I prefer simply giving people the opportunities they need rather than having them buy them. This isn’t the same as food stamps, though, since food stamps are gated by income, leading to a cliff. Instead, we should gate essential goods by need.