21–30 of 387 posts
Once again no answer to the main Question: What to do with people that blow their UBI by the 2nd of each month on SAAS Startups? Let them starve? Go without Shelter?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the article: > Some people will still behave irresponsibly and be in need before that deposit arrives, but the UBI will radically change the social framework within which they seek help: Everybody will know that everybody else has an income stream. It will be possible to say to the irresponsible what can’t be said now: “We won’t let you starve before you get your next deposit, but it’s time for you to get your a…
I wonder if this is bad because on the net it will make society less compassionate.
"The UBI is to be financed by getting rid of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, housing subsidies, welfare for single women and every other kind of welfare and social-services program, as well as agricultural subsidies and corporate welfare." How the hell does that happen politically? I would love to see basic income replacing a large portion of social programs in the stat…
There are all sorts of groups inside the UBI tent, and many of them disagree with each other violently, but we're so far from a UBI that for now, everyone can agree on it in the broadest possible way.
I, personally, have a completely different take on all of this from most UBI'ers. I take the long view: in 50 years, physical labor could be eliminated. WTF do we do when this happens? Do we relegate half of society to be homeless? Or do we begin the slow march towards eliminating work altogether.
Few talk about this scenario, and those that do often tack on "... and then Skynet takes over and robots enslave us all." Yet, it's still a very valid discussion to be having. I think all this UBI research and interest is in furtherance of the elimination of work, altogether. That's not something that will happen over night, or even in 10 years, but in order for it to happen, humanity needs to begin gathering the data points necessary to enact a solution to the end of work problem.
In the short term, this would eliminate social safety nets, but let's be honest, this is NEVER going to happen in America without a revolution of some kind. Whenever that happens, hopefully the UBI research will be far enough along to support a movement to enact it.
Once again no answer to the main Question: What to do with people that blow their UBI by the 2nd of each month on SAAS Startups? Let them starve? Go without Shelter?
"As of 2014, the annual cost of a UBI would have been about $200 billion cheaper than the current system. By 2020, it would be nearly a trillion dollars cheaper." Remarkable how much entitlement spending is booked in the near future.
Why is that remarkable? We make promises to people in the past and then we're shocked when the bill comes due? No one is ever shocked about all of the SS trust fund cash put into US treasuries (general fund deficit spending), but always shocked that "thats going to need to be paid back one day." https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/WhatAreTheTrust.ht... > The Social Security trust funds hold money not needed in…
Social Security is the largest owner of US Debt: http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2014/10/28/who-owns-t...
Stop trying to starve the beast already, and instead, help make it better. Or, admit at least, that you just don't give a damn about people who aren't like you.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is that remarkable? We make promises to people in the past and then we're shocked when the bill comes due? No one is ever shocked about all of the SS trust fund cash put into US treasuries (general fund deficit spending), but always shocked that "thats going to need to be paid back one day." https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/factsheets/WhatAreTheTrust.ht... > The Social Security trust funds hold money not needed in…
Social Security trust funds have been used to keep our dollar/treasuries inflated and are one of the biggest customers of those bonds. They will always have a buyer and part of the reason they are in demand since the mid 1930s. When people talk about removing SS they don't realize what it would do to treasuries as a product, demand would be much lower and so would the value of the dollar. Social Security is the large…
I'm sorry libertarians, but you can't just throw a equal amount of cash at everybody and say good luck. Society just isn't that simple. Different people have different needs, and that's where the complex overhead of a bureaucracy comes in. Stop trying to starve the beast already, and instead, help make it better. Or, admit at least, that you just don't give a damn about people who aren't like you.
Instead of telling people that they can have this money only if they work less than 16 hours a week, or only if they stay disabled, just give them the money.
That way you don't need to employ doctors to see if someone is still as disabled as they were last year, and people who get a part time job can increase their hours without penalty.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Social Security trust funds have been used to keep our dollar/treasuries inflated and are one of the biggest customers of those bonds. They will always have a buyer and part of the reason they are in demand since the mid 1930s. When people talk about removing SS they don't realize what it would do to treasuries as a product, demand would be much lower and so would the value of the dollar. Social Security is the large…
We should probably not position ourselves where we require an inflated dollar then, since those trust fund dollars are going to be drawn down as everyone ages onto Social Security.
The largest owner of U.S. debt is Social Security. Since the Social Security system is a government entity, how can the government own its own debt? Good question. This is where the “house of cards” theory resides. Some believe the federal government is merely moving the IOUs from one shell to another, hoping to escape the watchful eye of its citizens. In any event, Social Security owns about 16% of the debt followed by other federal government entities (13%), and the Federal Reserve (12%.
My guess is when it is time to pay or the money dries up, they are going to just disregard the Social Security debt owed or stretch it way out so the house of cards stays up a bit longer.