Also thinking along devil's advocacy lines -- it seems that without a universal basic income, people naturally resort to theft and copyright infringement to pull themselves back up to the baseline quality of life. With the economy naturally balancing itself out either way (The rich either pay taxes or get stolen from; the poor either spend their money or don't have any), it seems to make sense to go for whichever option has the lowest overhead.

Because being poor doesn't give you the right to take from others to satisfy your own entertainment desires. I think Jean Valjean wouldn't have been quite the sympathetic character if he stole a lute instead of a loaf of bread ;)

Yes, but copyright abuse doesn't equate to stealing bread. I realise you already know this, but it's kind of a fundamental distinction here.