Who Wouldn't Want Universal Basic Income? | 5 -Minute Videos

If the government gave people enough money to take care of their basic needs, could we eliminate poverty? Proponents of Universal Basic Income think so. Are they right? Would it really be that simple? Aldo Buttazzoni lays out the pros and cons of UBI.

#ubi #basicincome #prageru

@aldobuttazzoni

Script:

How does this sound?

$1,000 a month. No questions asked. You don’t even have to buy a lottery ticket.

All you have to do… is breathe.

Too good to be true?

Well, that depends on your view of UBI or Universal Basic Income.

UBI is an idea that has been kicking around for a while.

The concept goes like this: give people enough money to take care of their basic needs and we can eliminate poverty. In other words, we establish a floor below which no one will fall. Every citizen is provided for.

Appealing, no? After all, we live in the wealthiest country on earth and yet we have people living in the street. It’s a moral travesty. UBI solves it.

Of course, there’s the small question of who is going to pay for it.

Giving $1,000 a month to every American citizen (that’s the Universal part of UBI) would cost something like three trillion dollars a year.

That would make it by far the most expensive item in the federal budget. Of course, everybody’s taxes would have to go up to pay for this gigantic new expense.

How much?

David Henderson, an economist at the Hoover Institution calculates that to pay for UBI “the federal government would have to increase taxes by 74 percent.”

Venture investor and former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, a vocal proponent of UBI, says we can fund UBI with a 10% value-added tax, which means that everything you buy will have a 10% surcharge built in. Would Americans agree to such a big tax on top of all the taxes they already pay? Seems unlikely.

The chances, then, that we could raise the money in taxes—by any method—to pay for the program are almost zero. That means the government would have to make up the difference; that is, go deeper into debt, which is just another way of saying “print more money.” The inflation this would almost certainly cause would raise prices and make the dollars people were getting from UBI worth steadily less, therefore defeating the purpose of the entire enterprise.

Of course, some proponents say that UBI would make many existing government assistance programs—like food stamps and Medicaid—unnecessary, and that would save a lot of money. Okay, but as generous as a $1,000 monthly giveaway might seem, do you really think it would cover food, healthcare, and other living expenses? Let alone your iPhone?

For the sake of argument, let’s say money or inflation were not big obstacles. Would it be a good idea then?

[mr.e]

Bastiat said it best: everyone wants to live at the expense of the state, few realize the state lives at the expense of everyone else.

[Dennis-ncvw]

Which incentives more laziness, being told "You get $1000 a month, no strings attached" or being told "You get $1000 a month as long as you don't get a job, if you do, you lose your benefits." The latter, obviously. And the latter is how "anti-poverty" programs currently work in this country.

[JonathanSirico]

Could we just..you know...lower taxes?

[reececalvin]

Finland had a 2-year study, they didn’t “give up”. Also, for Stockton CA’s test they didn’t just “like free money” but they saw numerous benefits including employment rates

[artis-xc]

Beware of generous government programs; What they give to some one they had to take from some one else which means in the end we all share poverty equally.

[directcat]

I like when this type of people talk about taxes and the federal budget. They only talk about an addition to the budget and universally taxing people. They never mention how much goes to the military, foreign aid and wars, subsidies, and the extremely inneficient health care system. Get rid of that, and I am pretty sure you get some room for UBI without increasing taxes universally.

[DivineRevelationsSpiritlessons]

UBI-Universal Basic Income: It's 3 lies in 1 phrase.

#1 INCOME: Income is what you earn, and welfare is what the government gives you. So it's not INCOME, it's WELFARE. UBW - "Universal Basic Welfare"

#2. BASIC? Since when has any person or organization receiving money from the government wanted just the Basic amount? No, they are always demanding more and more. It's never enough. It's not BASIC, but it's EVERY INCREASING. UEIW - "Universal Ever Increasing Welfare"
#3. UNIVERSAL: for anyone, even millionaires and billionaires eligible? So people can take it even if they don't need it. How long until governments realize they can't afford it for everyone? So it's not Universal.

NUEIWEFPWDNI - "Not Universal, Ever Increasing Welfare, Even For People Who Don't Need It"

Sounds like a great idea, with the best of intentions. What could possibly go wrong?

[alexwood]

Lets say that people did have more free time to peruse their interests if their basics were covered. Why would this mean that their "human nature" would restrict them to a life of laziness? I'd argue that the reason video games and social media are so popular is because of their quick dopamine fixes they provide after a long and tough days work that you may feel unsatisfied doing.
With basics such as food, water, shelter etc. (not luxuries, like the Iphone inappropriately mentioned), people have more time to peruse their true passions as it is not Human nature that restricts people to lazy and unhealthy habits. Its their lack of time, motivation and money under the system.
As Andrew Collier said, "To look at people in capitalist society and conclude that human nature is egoism, is like looking at people in a factory where pollution is destroying their lungs and saying that it is human nature to cough".

Edit:
Furthermore, the "no one wants to toil so their neighbors can play" quote is a strawman of the UBI theory. $1000 may not give people everything they want. But it can give them the foundation on which to sleep and feel hot food in their stomachs.
Moreover, the fear that government programs expand can be attributed to any government program, such as the prevention of abortion, high military spending or the death penalty, which Prager U hypocritically supports.

[evanfaas]

I appreciate the effort here, but it feels like you’re missing a lot of the UBI scholarship. Yang proposed the value-added tax only for nonessential items, luxury items. Not your everyday grocery store expenses. The larger idea that’s missing in this video is that our society is getting increasingly unequal. We have so much wealth as a nation but it’s all going to the top handful of earners while we still have a lot of people in poverty. The idea is to extract a small slice of that immense wealth at the top and redistribute it to the entire population, enabling them to not only make ends meet, but to get out of the cyclical nature of poverty, remove that mindset of scarcity, and replace it with a mindset of opportunity. UBI gives everyone a real opportunity to invest their base income in growth rather than only barely being able to afford daily expenses. It’s a boon to capitalism, not a threat.

[viewsandreviews]

This gives me an idea. Why doesn’t the government consider decreasing taxes by $1000 a month? In this scenario each individual gets to keep money they worked for (this gives them the dignity of work and a government thief a little more out of their life) as well as giving the government a chance to think about fiscal responsibility. If the pilot program goes well it could be expanded just like every other government program.

[waytoobiased]

The assumption that no one wants to work forgets that most people are basically prosocial and generally really do want to work.

[Islandwaterjet]

Those that will receive UBI will be all in favor of it.
Those of us that will be forced to pay for it will be against it.

[cateclism]

For the U.S. government, we never "try" programs. Instead, they never go away, and keep getting more monstrous and encroaching. Politicians make their reputations on keeping these programs alive and forever funding them.

[gold_real_money]

Asian here! Sorry I'm not intended any racist comments here but I think Asians have much more Free Market Capitalism mentality than many White Americans today. For me especially, hardcore entrepreneurial spirit is core fundamental mentality of my life and my ancestor's life. Entitled too much to other people, especially other people's money is a biggest shame, unethical and immoral things for Asian Culture generally. Our life dedication is to work very hard possible to feed our family members or even to get rich on our own hands. Being rich is very glorious. No matter if we poor or rich, hard work is essential, sharing our piece of wealth VOLUNTARILY (NOT BY COERCION) is our another great culture

Honestly, I love being rich and having so much wealth, but it should come from my hands and my brain, not from some government's entitlement program. Because it's an insult for hard working culture like ours

[Dennis-ncvw]

Basically this whole video makes a bunch of arguments that could be made against any government program, but doesn't address an elephant in the room: the elimination of perverse incentives. This is why UBI has some appeal to conservatives. For example, if a single mother on welfare marries, she loses her benefits, so she stays single. If a single mother on UBI marries, she doesn't lose her benefits.

[warren]

'Nobody likes to toil so their neighbor can play'. Exactly.

[kevinblackburn]

The goal of the United States federal government is the same the goal of any major corporation. To increase in size, power and scope. UBI is nothing more than a way to do just that

[maxward]

Milton Friedman agreed with this idea. There’s gotta be something there.

[danw]

This video, “What about the dignity of being a wage slave and getting written up when your bus ran 5 minutes late?” I also love how he talked about how expensive food, housing, and health care are. How ‘bout you tap into unprecedented profits in some of those sectors to pay for it?

[NinjaKittyBonks]

I certainly don't want it, because not only I did not earn it, as mentioned below, but because someone ELSE did and it is being STOLEN from them!