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Originally Posted by New Era
Great comments. But what is the possibility of USGov approving the type of taxation required to support this program. We're talking 254M adults in the US. At $1,000 a month that is $3.048 TRILLION dollars in revenue to be collected and redistributed each year. If we go with the $20,000 a year model, that's $5.08 TRILLION. That's 1/4 of projected GDP for 2020. Where do you find the political support for such a program and such a heavy lift?
The other end of this is, that would mean the end to every social program in the country, including social security and medicare. I'm all for supporting the needy, but I will tell you one thing, I'm not going into retirement and taking a $15K a year haircut on my social security, and have to belly up for healthcare benefits on top of that, to support such a plan. I've worked my whole life and paid my taxes and contributions to social security with the expectation of a payoff in my golden years. That needs to happen. Unless that happens, even the most liberal of Americans will kill this thing in the womb.
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I think it's important to remember that UBI is a proposed solution to a potential problem. Most rational people aren't proposing UBI under the current economic conditions but rather as a response to massive unemployment due to automation. It's impossible to say with certainty that this scenario would come to pass, but there are some indications that it's possible or even likely. If so, the socio-economic system will need to undergo a massive shift. Maybe UBI is a solution, maybe not.