I will be upfront about it - I am a staunch supporter of the Universal Basic Income for everybody unconditionally. This was my gut response the moment I heard about the concept. My emotions kicked in immediately and it took me some time to realize that I needed to approach this issue a bit more rationally and find and examine the pros and cons. So I will be making this series of posts to explain to myself and to others perhaps why we should (or shouldn't?) support the idea of UBI
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But first definitions:
UBI - universal basic income is a sum of money paid regularly to people without any reservations and limitations. Everybody alive at a given moment qualifies unconditionally just by the virtue of having been born.
The above definition is the broadest definition I could come up with and which takes into account the global understanding of UBI. I will tackle local versions of UBI at a later time.
Here are some burning questions:
I intend to devote separate posts for each of these questions; these here are just for reference and brief orientation about my position on these issues
who pays the money?
The governing bodies of countries and territories.
where does the money come from?
It would replace the current welfare schemes and personal tax allowances as well as from saving the money on government bureaucracy. More on this here
how much money should be paid?
Enough for the person to meet his or her basic needs of survival in a given place / country.
how often should it be paid?
Monthly? Weekly? or maybe annually? There are pros and cons of each.
can you lose the privilege of UBI?
That is another difficult question: if you are a criminal, should you retain your UBI?
do we exclude some people from receiving UBI?
if yes, then on what conditions (see the point above)?
do I realize that 'having been born' is an arbitrary condition?
Yes, I do. I know that we could argue that if a woman is pregnant she needs more money (see: doctor's appointments, perhaps being unable to work etc) but this is a line I draw. The moment she gives birth to a baby, her son or daughter will receive UBI.
who will be in charge of the money paid to under-age people. Parents or guardians? Or should there be a fund in the bank to be paid out when they reach legal age?
It seems to me the money should be paid to parents/guardians as they have much more expenses when they have children. And one of the ideas behind UBI is to eliminate welfare, so they wouldn't have money for children from any other source. But what to do with parents who abuse the money that belong to their children and spend them on drugs etc? Introducing institutions like social welfare into the cycle will again multiply the costs.
Roadmap for the future posts
In future posts on UBI I will try to tackle the above questions and outline the following issues:
