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Originally Posted by Red Slinger
I think that UBI in some form is inevitable. I've really only started to learn about since Andrew Yang began his campaign so I'm not that well versed in the details but it seems like a step in the right direction. Ultimately, it replaces part of the social security net and puts money directly into the hands of people. For the vast majority of people, that money goes right back into the economy by way of rent, food, education and less basic needs. It also takes the pressure off of the hand-to-mouth subsistence that a lot of people experience.
CERB is a pseudo-example of UBI in action. It allowed one of my sons to leave his dead-end job as a cook and volunteer in a field that he's studying in University. One of the long-term benefits is that it may improve working conditions in a lot of jobs where otherwise the employees don't have options. The flip side is that those workers that are more inclined to be lazy and flakes have even more reason to do so.
I would like to see a larger scale test of UBI in action. It would be ideal if another Western Democracy tested this out (similar to how Portugal decriminalized drugs) before it was implemented. But Canada could be the ideal testing ground for this too. Maybe try it in one of the smaller provinces like Manitoba or New Brunswick for a few years to uncover some of the potentially unseen consequences, both good and bad.
The US will always be behind the world when it comes to progressive policy because of it's fundamental conservative DNA. But similar to things like Universal health care they will also eventually get there but it may not be in my lifetime unless there is a drastic social upheaval.
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UBI experiments have also shown to promote entrepreneurial initiatives by giving people a safety net. If someone isn't gambling their entire future on on a one-shot entrepreneurial endeavor, they are more likely to take the risk. Some of them will fail, but some are bound to have a positive effect on local economies.
I think we need to look at how we define what a job is as well. There are many things people do that have a net benefit on society, but are not considered "jobs". I could see an eventual social credit/UBI hybrid system one day where people can accumulate social currency to be used on goods and services, by volunteering and conducting charity work.
Of course, the downside of this is that a corrupt government could easily abuse such a system by awarding negative credit to people who don't conform to their ideals. Such a system could make it difficult for undesirable people to rent or own property. China has been doing this by giving people social credit ratings that can be made available to the public.
https://www.businessinsider.com/chin...eir%20behavior.
But with the right checks and balances, I think it could be a good system. I am not a big promoter of the "end stage capitalism" fear, but I do think that Western capitalism is a system that needs to be periodically adjusted as times change. It's not the first economic system the world has known, and it won't be the last. The only thing unique about it is how it became taboo to criticize it.