Some of this went over my head, but I have a couple thoughts: I think the main problem with UBI is that it ignores human nature. You will wind up with a growing percentage of the population that is content to stay home collecting their UBI, watching Netflix, eating fast food and smoking weed. Note for instance, the reluctance of many to rejoin the workforce even after extended UE benefits ran out.
Most unskilled labor is dreary and monotonous and given the choice between being poor while not working but collecting UBI on the one hand, or being slightly less poor while working a boring dead-end job on the other, hordes of workers will simply opt out. As such, instead of a national work ethic, a lift-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps mentality, a spirit of ambition, striving to get ahead, to better oneself, eagerly seizing opportunities, achieving the American dream, and so forth, you will inadvertently be encouraging passivity, dependency, and resignation to one's lot in life.
I'm not a religious man, but I find much collective wisdom of the ages is contained in ancient literature: "The person who labors, labors for himself, For his hungry mouth drives him on." (Proverbs 16:26) And Paul wrote, "if anyone will not work, neither let him eat." (2 Thess. 3:10).
I dropped out of high school and worked many minimum wage jobs. I was motivated because there was no option of free government money. It was work or starve. That's how you develop a work ethic. You're not going to develop that on your own if the government is conditioning you to depend on handouts. Because of that work ethic, when a business opportunity arose, I recognized it, seized the day, worked my a$$ off and went from being hopelessly in debt with no future prospects to being debt free with a solid income, savings in the bank, investments, retirement account, and even being in a position to provide financial help to others. Now instead of being a burden on the taxpayers, I am cutting quarterly checks to Uncle Sam.
So you can chalk me up as being in the Peter Schiff camp. Economic downturns should occur. They should be brief. They should provide creative destruction, killing off weak businesses and freeing up resources for more productive uses. The notion that we could engineer our way to a system in which no downturns occur is seductive, but misguided. There's no such thing as a free lunch and nothing goes up in a straight line. Businesses and individuals should both be encouraged to save for a rainy day and understand that when that day comes there will not be a social safety net to swoop in and save them from all their bad decisions and shortsighted excesses. And for those who fall through the cracks? That's where charity comes in.
After 40+ years of stagnant wages, the general labor force is long overdue for a raise. Those dreary, monotonous jobs can pay a living wage or we can rid ourselves of failed business models that rely on underpaid, gov't-subsidized labor to exist.
Some of this went over my head, but I have a couple thoughts: I think the main problem with UBI is that it ignores human nature. You will wind up with a growing percentage of the population that is content to stay home collecting their UBI, watching Netflix, eating fast food and smoking weed. Note for instance, the reluctance of many to rejoin the workforce even after extended UE benefits ran out.
Most unskilled labor is dreary and monotonous and given the choice between being poor while not working but collecting UBI on the one hand, or being slightly less poor while working a boring dead-end job on the other, hordes of workers will simply opt out. As such, instead of a national work ethic, a lift-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps mentality, a spirit of ambition, striving to get ahead, to better oneself, eagerly seizing opportunities, achieving the American dream, and so forth, you will inadvertently be encouraging passivity, dependency, and resignation to one's lot in life.
I'm not a religious man, but I find much collective wisdom of the ages is contained in ancient literature: "The person who labors, labors for himself, For his hungry mouth drives him on." (Proverbs 16:26) And Paul wrote, "if anyone will not work, neither let him eat." (2 Thess. 3:10).
I dropped out of high school and worked many minimum wage jobs. I was motivated because there was no option of free government money. It was work or starve. That's how you develop a work ethic. You're not going to develop that on your own if the government is conditioning you to depend on handouts. Because of that work ethic, when a business opportunity arose, I recognized it, seized the day, worked my a$$ off and went from being hopelessly in debt with no future prospects to being debt free with a solid income, savings in the bank, investments, retirement account, and even being in a position to provide financial help to others. Now instead of being a burden on the taxpayers, I am cutting quarterly checks to Uncle Sam.
So you can chalk me up as being in the Peter Schiff camp. Economic downturns should occur. They should be brief. They should provide creative destruction, killing off weak businesses and freeing up resources for more productive uses. The notion that we could engineer our way to a system in which no downturns occur is seductive, but misguided. There's no such thing as a free lunch and nothing goes up in a straight line. Businesses and individuals should both be encouraged to save for a rainy day and understand that when that day comes there will not be a social safety net to swoop in and save them from all their bad decisions and shortsighted excesses. And for those who fall through the cracks? That's where charity comes in.
After 40+ years of stagnant wages, the general labor force is long overdue for a raise. Those dreary, monotonous jobs can pay a living wage or we can rid ourselves of failed business models that rely on underpaid, gov't-subsidized labor to exist.