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Cash in hand: Could basic income protect livelihoods in coronavirus crisis?

6 Comments
By Sarah Shearman

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OPEN TO ABUSE?

Every system is open to abuse. It can't be any worse than the current system, whereby the banks get to run the economy into the ground and then get bailed out... or where everything gets closed down for an open ended time and then the big companies run by billionaires get handouts to keep things running... or when the political elite are almost all from the top 5% and dole out tax cuts to the top 5% etc.

Sure, UBI would be open to abuse, but let's not pretend that the current system is a model of perfection. It's about time we had a system that was a bit more weighted to the common-man rather than the elite.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"Advocates say its simplicity allows governments to bypass time-consuming bureaucratic processes..." This is why it will never be realized: the worthless pencil pushing bureaucrats would have to find real jobs.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The UBI pushed by Yang was devised with the intention of staving off the worst affects of the coming AI revolution, that would have seen sweeping loss of jobs within the decade or so. Who would’ve imagined we’d be considering Implementing Yangs strategies before the presendential race was even over! Hey, at least there is a well thought out frame work to start with and it’s also good to hear the Trump team has reached out to Yang.

We will all have to forget our politics to get through this thing. Put it on hold at least. Anyone still playing silly games with the old and now increasingly dangerous rhetoric or bickering points will need to put a lid on it pronto. This may even be thing that brings people together as unbelievable and ironic as that may sound. If we can’t get it together, well I’m sure you can start imagining what awaits. Horror movie type scenarios.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Andrew Yang was one of only two Democrat hopefuls I had any respect for, and I think his heart is in thought place. Haven't read his book but heard hime talk about his UBI proposal, probably on the Rubin Report. outside of a crisis like the one we have now, I think it would ultimately be inflationary and demotivational for a sizeable portion of the population.

In any case, real-life experiments in Finland etc indicate that UBI isn't a panacea for the long term.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Read Andrew Yang's The War On Normal People. He focuses on automation but it has come to pass with the coronavirus. #AndrewYangwasright was the top twitter hashtag when this crisis started.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

People need to eat.

How they get money to buy or have to steal it is dependent on the sophistication of the society.

The UK will soon find out what level it is at soon.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

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