I'm somehow in a false UBI situation, monthly jobless benefits, and while waiting for answers I volunteer (mentioned it a few times). I found the freedom very .. freeing and motivating (actually the system was slowing me down, politics as you know). So I really wonder how it is to live officially in this condition.
Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
21–30 of 337 posts
Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#22[flagged]
By balls, you mean money. Look at the difficulty the service industry has now hiring people who would rather receive government relief and sit around the house than work a marginally better paying job—it’s not like they are using this time to pursue productive hobbies (pursuing their passions)... and look at the inflation and debt we’re incurring from free money
Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#23[flagged]
By balls, you mean money. Look at the difficulty the service industry has now hiring people who would rather receive government relief and sit around the house than work a marginally better paying job—it’s not like they are using this time to pursue productive hobbies (pursuing their passions)... and look at the inflation and debt we’re incurring from free money
As for the money, I am brit so I only know the British numbers. We spend about 300bn a year on benefits (in non covid times). That's £5000 per citizen (including kids) and doesn't count a whole bunch of other subsidies (free houses, local government spending etc). So we wouldn't need to raise much additional spending.
Of course, people would be more likely to take service jobs if they could keep their unemployment benefit (as they would a UBI). That's one of the big upsides of a UBI: no benefit trap like we're currently seeing (rightly or not).
And all this is without any uptick in any economic area (people accepting lower wages, getting educated/trained, increased consumption, lower crime etc).
Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#24Interesting how political parties are for or against this pilot project before the results are known. What happened to gathering evidence first and then making up one's mind? There have been other projects in Canada, Finland,Kenya and the Netherlands, all with “positive” results. It is useful to ask what you are trying to achieve with an UBI? * lift people out of poverty? * save money on other social schemes, like pe…
> all with “positive” results.
Call this lack of self awareness. Do you have any study that looks into the long term effect of this scheme with data. AFAIK, there had been multiple programs of UBI going all the way to 1960s[1] and each time government cancelled it for some reason, so calling it one word positive if got cancelled is bit of overreach.
Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#25Not a very scientific attitude (I think this is a great idea btw, just that quote is quite cringe)
Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#26Interesting how political parties are for or against this pilot project before the results are known. What happened to gathering evidence first and then making up one's mind? There have been other projects in Canada, Finland,Kenya and the Netherlands, all with “positive” results. It is useful to ask what you are trying to achieve with an UBI? * lift people out of poverty? * save money on other social schemes, like pe…
As for suggestions : It's pretty vague, but how about doing projects in things that you're interested in ? Like maybe creating a prototype for an energy drink, buy a lot of different ingredients to find new recipes, or buy tools for drawing and create a comic...
Or read up on a problem your city has, and work on it.
Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#27Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#28The 'universal' aspect of UBI is critical, and many of the attempts to test UBI seem to miss this completely. Call it something else in that case.
Re: Universal basic income to be tested in Wales
#29[flagged]
By balls, you mean money. Look at the difficulty the service industry has now hiring people who would rather receive government relief and sit around the house than work a marginally better paying job—it’s not like they are using this time to pursue productive hobbies (pursuing their passions)... and look at the inflation and debt we’re incurring from free money