this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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Leftism

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[–] unfreeradical@lemmy.world 45 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

I read a study arguing that each time someone utters the letters U, B, and I, currency devalues itself by one thousand fold, chunks of the sky rain down on metropolitan centers, and everyone instantly becomes fat, lazy, and uninterested in any activities except playing video games.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yup I died because you said it, so thanks for that.

[–] unfreeradical@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If not myself, then someone else. Blame the system, not the individual.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

If it had to he anyone, im glad it was you!

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world -4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

To be clear, I have no issue with most people working while others do not and live off the system. I think most people will still want to do that something.

UBI isn't going to do that.

You can point to a handful of small scale studies that show more money works, and yes, on a small scale that is exactly what you'd expect to happen.

This does not work when everyone has that same income. It's not a matter of 99% of people making smart choices, because I concede that the vast majority of people with sudden access to additional income would spend it wisely.

The issues are twofold.

A) when the people who've made it their career to suck every penny out of every possible person know that there are suddenly more pennies to be had, they're going to raise prices. It's frankly foolish and shortsighted to expect prices to remain the same or only raise a little. This issue is not raised with small scale experiments. So regardless of their obvious success, they're not telling the whole story.

2). UBI does absolutely nothing to address the problems it's actually trying to solve. All it does is print a check every month as a bandaid for some serious problems that will certainly persist. You can't fix housing without building housing. Individual healthcare will still be tied to your job. College education will be prohibitively expensive and require staffing a lifetime of debt, and we'll still throw away an obscene amount of food, and people will still go hungry. The only thing that will probably get better is more children will have a secure diet.

And none of that assumes prices would inflate the way they absolutely will. Because even if UBI happened, the people who want all the money the working class has aren't suddenly going to think it's ok to leave dollars unspoken for.

The cost of college will steadily increase by about the amount kids are expected to have been able to save by the time they get there. Rent prices will go up to accommodate the new found freedom of spending. And that's the stuff you have a choice on. You think Comcast will see people with so many extra dollars a month and think "well our customers don't have another option but we'll let them keep all that money?"

UBI is just a ticket to absolute dependency on a government check for 99% of Americans, and less financial freedom.

Address the actual problems, don't just slap a half baked bandaid on it

[–] unfreeradical@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The claim of UBI leading to runaway inflation is a myth given by reactionary propaganda.

UBI would represent a major advance for the working class. Advocating against it seems impossible to reconcile with any attitude that is not accelerationist.

Much of your commentary seems to reproduce mythical tropes such as of the "welfare queen".

Seeking meaningful contribution to society is a robust human tendency. Doing so under constant threat from greedy employers is not necessary.