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Request For Research: Basic Income

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#961

Post by intended »

tptacek wrote: post #513
fijal wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

College in Poland is free and there are options for very limited stipends which can sustain you (albeit on a poverty level). That did lift me from a poor, but educated, family into the world of computer software and a relatively successful career it seems. As it did for countless of my peers. Please don't discount free education as "not changing much", in the US I would be probably working at Mc Donalds or dealing cr…

I'm not opposed to free education. I'm certain free education is better than $150k education. But gating stable employment on 4-year degrees is problematic for reasons other than tuition costs, and, equally important to this thread, startups probably can't make college free, but they might be able to replace college for a pretty big set of white collar jobs.

Largely - It's not an education problem. It's a jobs, discrimination, and "qualification creep" problem.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#963

Post by melbourne_mat »

IanDrake wrote: post #360

I can't take this seriously. >(Questions about how a program like this would affect overall cost of living are beyond our scope, but obviously important.) No, that's not just "obviously important". It's practically the ONLY thing that's important. If basic income raises the cost of living to the point where it negates the effect of having it, then basic income is meaningless. Here's your study. 1) Bring one piece of…

The first problem is that you're comparing children to adults. Adults are slightly more nuanced in their thinking.

The second problem is your use of the word "steals". Does the hedge fund manager who earns $3.5 billion income in a single year deserve all that money? I disagree very strongly with that. In fact I'd use the word "parasite" to describe someone who earns that much.

"work has no value without ownership of it's rewards"

So you work only for the money? I bet you're lots of fun at parties.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#964

Post by melbourne_mat »

DominikR wrote: post #152

> 50 years from now, I think it will seem ridiculous that we used fear of not being able to eat as a way to motivate people. Is this really a problem in Western societies? I haven't heard of famines or people starving to death here. I believe that most people work for social status, so they can keep up with the people surrounding them. > I also think that it’s impossible to truly have equality of opportunity without…

"Is this really a problem in Western societies?"

All the people you know are not starving. There are however many folks - even in rich countries - who would not eat without the help of charity programs. Many of them are living on the streets.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#965

Post by melbourne_mat »

tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

So what? Your suggestions have nothing to do with basic income, and would not materially solve the issue that basic income tries to address.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#966

Post by wtvanhest »

hellodevnull wrote: post #917
wtvanhest wrote: post #373

This research is an awesome thing that YC could give to the world. I do have a few very specific, big concern though: >We're open to doing this in either one geographic area, or nationally distributed. In order for this research to having meaning, we would need to see how the costs of things, especially real estate prices are impacted. One argument against basic income is that it would inflate the prices of basic goo…

>I love this statement, but the need to eat has been driving human beings for a very long time. It would be a truly profound statement if we could prove this. You could look to many European countries for an answer. The unemployed receive welfare, now tell me how many of those are still motivated enough to do anything when there's no fear of hunger. Are these people happy receiving enough welfare to live a modest lif…

I have no idea. That is exactly why someone needs to research it. Fortunately for all of us, YC has stepped in to provide some funding for the research.

My gut tells me that if societies could work with basic income, someone would have figured it out a long time ago. There have been a lot of societies after all and people have tried a lot of different things. On the other hand, my gut is wrong sometimes. I think it is super interesting that we may get some well thought out research about this that we can hopefully use to do more research and maybe someday come up with a better system.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#967

Post by dbpokorny »

I was under the impression that the problem was a corrupt and impenetrable legal system built to erect barriers to entry and protect insiders, the virtue in whose hearts is boiled away in the fires of greed and lust for power.

This is a sort of French Revolution type system: the elites can keep shitting and pissing until suddenly a conspiracy forms and KABOOM a whole bunch of dead rich people in the street and NOBODY CARES because they're perverted scum ! ! !

B R I N G

B A C K

T H E

G U I L L O T I N E

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#968

Post by ben0x539 »

melbourne_mat wrote: post #965
tptacek wrote: post #170

Things that would help everyone, regardless of income, without depending on a radical restructuring of entitlement spending, that seem like things startups could actually do: * Equally credible alternatives to university education for professions that don't involve students shouldering $100k-$200k in debt based on decisions they have to make when they're 18 years old. * Empirical, blinded, skills-assessment based tur…

So what? Your suggestions have nothing to do with basic income, and would not materially solve the issue that basic income tries to address.

The top comment of this submission is "Ask HN: What can startups do to increase prosperity for everyone?"

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#969

Post by Mikushi »

jacquesm wrote: post #469
sama wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes--driving down the cost of housing is one of the things I think about the most. It seems so critical to the whole equation.

To drive down the cost of housing you'd have to drive down the cost of land in places where lots of people want to live. The house is the smaller part of that equation, unless you're looking at the third world and there a whole pile of other problems come in to play.

> To drive down the cost of housing you'd have to drive down the cost of land in places where lots of people want to live

I wouldn't say want to live as much as have to live. I live in London, but trust me I do not want to live there, I have to.

Re: Request For Research: Basic Income

#970

Post by FrankyHollywood »

maker1138 wrote: post #835
FrankyHollywood wrote: post #424

A lot of people see problems in getting basic income funded. But is there is a simple solution :) Generate the money, just print it! Everyone on earth will get an equal quantity of money, every month. Now this money can be used in two different ways. 1) Buy natural resources 2) Buy services This distinction is important: When somebody provides a service, like fixing your bike he gets money and can keep it. When you b…

This is a terrible idea. Something similar to it has been tried dozens of time in the past with disastrous results. http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/working...

tnx for the article, very interesting! Hyperinflation is definitly not what I would opt for. Still I'd like to have a system where every earth citizen has equal rights to earths resources and one where people who actually make the world a better place to live in should be rewarded somehow.

If you think about it, our monetairy system, salaries, social wellfare, taxes. Although not perfect, we kind of have such a system allready :)

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