Request For Research: Basic Income

The regulatory bar for childcare is absurdly high, and I can't imagine how much of it serves a constructive purpose (source: my sister, who is a teacher, once looked into opening a daycare center). But like the "war on terror", it's regulation we can't get rid of because nobody wants to be the guy who made kids less safe.

I'm not sure providing basic income for a group of people for 5 years is a valid experiment. That group would still need to improve themselves because their money will be gone in 5 years, and they would then need to have built enough of their lives to get a job or be self-financed. The other flaw is that they will be a unique group, not part of a population who all gets the same basic income, so their lifestyle choices will be dictated personally, whereas if everyone had basic income, culture itself would have more impact on choices.

It sounds like a great idea to spend time and energy researching this... I just don't think the description as posted is going to hit the mark.

> "The problem with basic income is that people need purpose, not charity."

When most of your energy is spent on survival, the energy left to follow a greater purpose is drastically reduced. Providing the basics as a human right frees people to pursue goals beyond the basics. The cultural element is important too (the goals you set will be influenced by the society you live in), but let's tackle the survival issue first.

I think the packaging is incredibly important -

negative income / social welfare are packaged in a way that telegraphs dependency and low self-worth.

[ I would also be really interested in seeing an economic analysis of how much money and time is spent on administering social welfare ]

Basic income needs to be marketed as a positive way : here's some money - it is your share of the basic wealth from the land/resources and the benefits of our technology to the country - do something useful with it.

[ I also wonder how many of those 'lazy-dole-bludgers' now on social welfare would have a better sense of self-worth, and actually get off their arse and do something useful if we didn't make it so clear to them they were total failures from school age ]

I was a homemaker for two decades. I did lots of volunteer work. I strongly disagree with you.

You should Google "emotional labor metafilter". A lot of "caring" work has traditionally been done by women and we are expected to do it for free, out of the goodness of our hearts. If we expect to get compensated for it, we are taken to task as harpies, gold digging whores, etc.

I was one of the top three students of my graduating class. I have done many things that enhanced the lives of other people. I have struggled with trying to figure out how to monetize my work. The main thing I need is work that pays adequately and doesn't keep me sick. A lot of people who have benefitted from my volunteer work, public writing, etc. are offended and outraged that I desire financial compensation.

I have been homeless for just over four years. The people who expect me to do nice things for them because I "care" generally do not give a damn about that. Plenty of people have made it abundantly clear that I should shut the fuck up about how poor I am and how hard my life is. They seem to think that telling people I am homeless amounts to trying to panhandle them.

I am pretty pissed off about it because I am not a beggar. I have only ever asked for help in trying to figure out how to turn the work I do that benefits others into an income source for me. The idea that I deserve compensation gets pissed on, often by the very people who seem to think I am after their money as a beggar.

We need to pay for these jobs if we want them done. No one should be expected to live in poverty on an allotment of Basic Income while taking care of others. It is a shitty, shitty expectation.

"Fuck you, pay me" should apply equally to the kinds of work you describe. If society NEEDS this work done and it doesn't pay adequately when handled by the private sector, then create a government service. This is why fire and police are public goods, not private sector services.