Universal Basic Income vs Negative Income Tax

[Stonepounder]

6. It seems to me that you start with the premise that everyone deserves a certain, basic

income. Whether they are washing dishes at the local greasy spoon, frying burgers at McDonalds or not working at all. If they want to raise their standard of living they can look for other opportunities to earn more money.

Mrs. Stonepounder and I live fairly comfortably on our Social Security. We don't live in a McMansion, we drive a 10 year old car, but we have the income to keep our dogs and ourselves healthy and well fed, we have a roof over our head, and enough money left over for Mrs. Stonepounder's quilting and for me to buy a new computer game now and then. There are enough 'Now Hiring' signs around that if either of us wanted to have more disposable income we could certainly find a job.

When I was RIFFed at age 60 I could have kept on working, making a tidy income consulting, as I was well-known in my field. Instead we decided to live on my unemployment until I was old enough for Social Security.

So, you allow people who want more than 'basic income' to earn more and the ones who don't not have to. As has been mentioned above, robots are replacing more and more workers. I would speculate that Amazon will be cutting its warehouse staff drastically in the next 10 years as robotic picker/packers replace humans. Same with the trucking industry as driverless vehicles come into their own. They are already experimenting with employee-less fast food restaurants. Look at assembly lines in Detroit and how they have become automated.

So, basic income could work. Of course there will still be a need for regulations and limitations. I still have never figured out why the Waltons feel the need to have billions of dollars. What good does it do you to have more money than you could possibly spend in several lifetimes? The Walton family is worth an estimated $145 billion. If you just took that, stuck it in the bank at 2% interest, it would return almost $3 billion a year. How in the world do you spend $3 billion a year? The money becomes meaningless other than a way of keeping score. It has no more value in daily life than Monopoly money. So, tax the hell out of it, take the taxes and fund the basic income.