Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

bloombergview.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 840 posts

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#51

Post by UVB-76 »

empressplay wrote: post #45
cmdli wrote: post #43

From the $1 trillon stated in the article, spread across 300 million people, each person would get around $3000 a year. That honestly doesn't seem like it would help a lot, considering it would replace current welfare systems. The Swiss proposal of around $2600 a month, implemented in the US, would cost nearly $10 trillion a year which doesn't really seem feasible. I don't think the problem with basic income is an id…

...and how do you stop companies from hiking prices to absorb it?

Purchasing power will still be increased through imports.

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#52

Post by _Understated_ »

cmdli wrote: post #43

From the $1 trillon stated in the article, spread across 300 million people, each person would get around $3000 a year. That honestly doesn't seem like it would help a lot, considering it would replace current welfare systems. The Swiss proposal of around $2600 a month, implemented in the US, would cost nearly $10 trillion a year which doesn't really seem feasible. I don't think the problem with basic income is an id…

I absolutely agree but my biggest fear is that socialists don't give a shit and will push "progressive taxes".

I live in Scotland and they love the fact that they can raise taxes here now... they openly talk about it and very few people I know bat an eyelid!

But it's the curse of socialism imo: As long as you tax people earning more than me then I am fine with it.

Sadly, something I have heard too often

Edit: Spelling

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#53

Post by empressplay »

gaius wrote: post #17
amelius wrote: post #5

I'm still wondering about one thing: if everybody has a basic income, then who will be doing the dirty jobs like collecting our waste? Will the price for waste collecting go up? And will there then be a kind of economic "inversion", where the intellectual people prefer to work on interesting stuff at the expense of money, while the "non-intellectual" (need a better word here) people will make all the money doing the…

The basic income will provide only the basics - if you want luxuries, you will still need a job.

I'm not convinced it will even provide the basics. There would be nothing to stop rents / real-estate prices from going up to compensate. Or food, or utilities. It's simple supply and demand.

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#55

Post by pjc50 »

_Understated_ wrote: post #31
amelius wrote: post #5

I'm still wondering about one thing: if everybody has a basic income, then who will be doing the dirty jobs like collecting our waste? Will the price for waste collecting go up? And will there then be a kind of economic "inversion", where the intellectual people prefer to work on interesting stuff at the expense of money, while the "non-intellectual" (need a better word here) people will make all the money doing the…

I haven't read into it too much at the moment as it's still a bit of a pipe-dream just now although it's looking more likely to change but I sit on the fence at this time (with a lean towards "no"). I don't see that happening to be honest but I do see something worse... Won't the price of everything go up for those that don't currently need the welfare system? Is this a sort of stealth tax increase on the middle clas…

Child benefit is almost-universal. It was completely universal until a conservative government started means-testing it on the parents.

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#56

Post by nihonde »

amelius wrote: post #5

I'm still wondering about one thing: if everybody has a basic income, then who will be doing the dirty jobs like collecting our waste? Will the price for waste collecting go up? And will there then be a kind of economic "inversion", where the intellectual people prefer to work on interesting stuff at the expense of money, while the "non-intellectual" (need a better word here) people will make all the money doing the…

I'd like to think that if you've got a civilization that people feel is worth keeping, the "dirty" jobs become a shared responsibility.

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#58

Post by empressplay »

UVB-76 wrote: post #51
empressplay wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and how do you stop companies from hiking prices to absorb it?

Purchasing power will still be increased through imports.

You can't "import" housing though. And businesses collude all the time.

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#59

Post by _Understated_ »

pjc50 wrote: post #55
_Understated_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't read into it too much at the moment as it's still a bit of a pipe-dream just now although it's looking more likely to change but I sit on the fence at this time (with a lean towards "no"). I don't see that happening to be honest but I do see something worse... Won't the price of everything go up for those that don't currently need the welfare system? Is this a sort of stealth tax increase on the middle clas…

Child benefit is almost-universal. It was completely universal until a conservative government started means-testing it on the parents.

It's crazy. I absolutely don't need it but for some reason I qualify.

Re: A Basic Income Should Be the Next Big Thing

#60

Post by empressplay »

panic wrote: post #46
empressplay wrote: post #34

Won't a basic income just increase inflation? Minimum-wage jobs would by necessity then need to pay more, which would then cause the costs of goods and services to go up, which would then make living more expensive, necessitating an increase in the basic income and so forth...? For example, say I'm a landlord. If everyone all of a sudden had an additional "base" income, why wouldn't I increase my rents to absorb at l…

Minimum-wage jobs would by necessity then need to pay more That's the opposite of what's being proposed: the minimum income comes from the government, not employers. Minimum income can replace minimum wage. For example, say I'm a landlord. If everyone all of a sudden had an additional "base" income, why wouldn't I increase my rents to absorb at least a portion of that? Then, only people who had a job would still be a…

This would only work in places where supply exceeded demand. In a landlords' market there is no reason to compete. All the same people who could afford to rent from you before can still afford to rent from you now, you're just charging them more.
Post reply on HN