Tech giants Elon Musk, Sam Altman push universal basic income concept

The fact that someone else might be in need does not give him any right to my money, or time. Forced social welfare programs ignore this. UBI does not reduce the negative imapct of these programs, but actually enforces and concretizes them and the mentality of "social debt" and "inherent social debt" (both do not exist) by declaring every citizen equally guilty.

UBI sounds nice on paper because everyone wants a cut on their taxes (and that's not bad) but it quietly pushes the agenda that you are entitled to something from everyone else just because you are alive. This will only lead to worse problems in the long run, because then very few individuals would understand that people can actually live without UBI.

The increase in taxes for the majority of the earning population would cancel out the benefits for them anyway, and might even be a negative for them.

UBI gives people something for nothing, which means that people would opt to not get a job but just stay on UBI for as long as they can. And if the government does enforce a criteria, well then, it just increases the surveillance surveillance and mandates it. And to say nothing of the illegal immigration that will increase if UBI is introduced, because UBI unconditionally sacrifices the money and time of people who produce for those who can't, and/or won't.

I just see this as a move for guys like Elon to snuggle up deeper with the government. This kind of short-range thinking is what has led to the massive debt right now and will only increase it. Who knows where this self-sacrifice will stop? People in america cry at the 1%, but being born in America already puts the majority of its citizens in the 1% of the world's population. What will happen when those people say it's unfair for so few to have so much? The people clamoring for UBI do not have a reason for it, and their reason for it is that there needs to be none. The other countries can and will do the same, and that's when people will understand their importance of not basing decisions on feelings.

If you do that, you kill 99%+ of the value of those companies. Those profits pay first and foremost for the pension of mostly ordinary Americans. Worse: those people who's pensions your proposal would take away worked for those pensions for decades. Because of excessive government debt issuance, these pensions are already somewhere between in trouble and bankrupt, with a massive pension bankruptcy wave coming in 2018 unless radical changes are implemented. This action would make them fail tomorrow.

So what will you do about that ? Answer: nobody will risk touching that, and they're right.

The issue is that money represents economic incentive. What it boils down to, massively simplified, is this. In order to have a minimal basic income (say $200 per month), you need to create 60 billion in economic value, and that means first and foremost more work by ordinary people. Given average hours pay ($23/hour) that comes to 13 million extra days that need to be worked, by normal people, or about 20% more than we're currently working.

So something so trivial as $200/month, extremely inaccurately calculated, would mean no more saturdays. Getting out of bed at 9am and working till 5pm like mondays to fridays. That's, simplified, what a trivial and completely insufficient basic income would take.

Oh and before you say "let's eliminate other programs", please keep in mind that that, of course, represents a massive wealth transfer from the poor to the rich.

That doesn't mean you have to be a sucker and do it unilaterally when nobody has to do it. It's a collective action problem.

I can barely afford two required medications that I copay out of pocket (Walgreens), and the price of the expensive one just jumped from $22.50 to $38. Can't afford auto repairs, can't anything entertaining that involves money, replacing anything should something break or saving for emergencies much less retirement. I would like to convert my vehicle to EV (a-la Electric Samba) and add solar, but that's currently well beyond my reach. (My and others MPCs are higher because of inelastic demands to survive, not "avocado toast.")

Thankfully, propane is cheap ($9 every 3-4 years).

UBI will likely never happen because it reduces economic violence on those unable to earn more than minimum wage. Poor conditions, union-busting, minimal benefits and maximum productivity benefit the ruling class to extract more profit from people, keep people busy and keep them "in line."