This is the most positive article on UBI I've seen from the BBC. Still it raises a valuable point of doubt :
Would it make a difference? Around five million people receive welfare benefits in the UK. In 2015, the country’s welfare budget was £258 billion ($320bn). If that was divided equally between the UK’s roughly 50 million adults, each person would receive £5,160 ($6,400) a year. That’s a lot less than the £13,124 ($16,280) someone could earn in full-time work on the minimum wage set by the UK government. Many would argue for a universal basic income that is higher than that amount. It’s also less than some people receive in existing benefits – which most systems of basic income would replace. For example, in the UK a person over the age of 25 who is unemployed could receive up to £3,800 ($4,714) a year in jobseekers allowance and an average of £4,992 ($6,192) in housing benefits.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170118-what-if-the-state-provided-everyone-with-a-basic-income
Basic income can only work if you don't have rent seekers in the system. If there are they will just make sure by manipulating prices or law to make the basic income to fall into their hands...
ReplyDeleteThink electricity, water, education, house rentals, etc... If those are not cheap and out of rent seekers, basic income will just be eaten by them and inflation...