We Need a Basic Income Guarantee

Re:We Need a Basic Income Guarantee by rtpg on Sunday September 01, 2013 @10:45AM (#6310557)

You know, you call them 'parasites' but it could be argued, firstly, that spending their 'free' cash is the service rendered (think utility functions: do you trust "average joe" or bureaucrats to be more effecient spenders of tax dollars?). Also, by giving these people basic income, you allow these families to build their own lineage and estate: over generations, families will be less likely to fall through the cracks, and thus can start producing "useful" members of society.

Parasites you might call them, but they can be producing something even in this state.

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Re:We Need a Basic Income Guarantee by fnordfnordfnord on Sunday September 01, 2013 @11:43AM (#6310795)

>do you trust "average joe" or bureaucrats to be more effecient spenders of tax dollars?

This is an excellent point. Even when one points to the dregs of society, those people are likely to spend their 'free' money in a way that is beneficial to me, by spending at local businesses.

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Re:We Need a Basic Income Guarantee by RodericDay on Sunday September 01, 2013 @11:10PM (#6313283)

It's not unlike how you get to use Facebook "for free", but in reality you're feeding them information.

Guaranteed Minimum Income could be seen as a way to ensuring everyone is able to express their purchasing desires with less distortion from necessity, and that you're paying them for that "social service".

Idk.

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Re:We Need a Basic Income Guarantee by saraid216 on Monday September 02, 2013 @03:00AM (#6313805)

I think it'd be an interesting philosophical exercise to posit that we sell Facebook data traces about ourselves in return for easy access to data traces about others. What would that really mean, and what moral or economic consequences can be concluded from that?

I personally have no idea.

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