Hawaii the first US state that to officially evaluate basic income
This is disturbing, government addressing a fundamental change in economic structure through "Basic Income". Since government doesn't make any money, but takes it from everyone, isn't that really "redistribution of wealth"? I would suggest training for real jobs, real skills, something that produces value would be better, but then Hawaii would have to fundamentally change and become a producer vice a vacation colony....
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Yeh bullshit....giving away freebees is not "Brave" it is pandering to the mob and will absolutely get you re-elected. This is like these Hollywood elites mouthing off about conservative politicians and acting like they are brave somehow...they aren't. There...up til Trump...has never been blowback.
On a flip side, we probably damn near do this already between Social Security, Gov Retirement, Unemployment, welfare, food stamps, incarceration, Medicaid, CHIP, WIC, heating assistance, Section 8 housing, and Disability payments.
I just want to throw up at the idea of it. Nothing would take more incentive out of work, or decline civilization faster, than something this stupid.
My only tepid support would come from - throw away all the other public subsidies, if this looks cheaper, fine. But no stacking or combining and a requirement for "public work", education, etc.. not just sitting on one's ass and exercising that medical 420-card all day.
These are counter intuitive to Objectivism…
The alternative to the UBI is to require that productive concerns hire people at uneconomic rates. Make it illegal to use automated production equipment and hire people instead.
I can’t see how something like this could actually working on the state level, almost all states budgets are an epic horror story where everyone dies in the end. Hawaii can’t print its own money so they have to take it from someone else, show me a Peter willing to be robed to pay Paul? Peter will ether leave or become another Paul. Pauls from other states will just show up and become new Pauls accepting the entitlements for the people of Hawaii.
The type of automation in information technology is quickly coming to the real world and it can’t be stopped. This will be a disruptive force where the clear majority of the effective employees’ ether can’t or won’t retrain to compete for the few jobs that build and maintain the automation. When your 53K dollar a year job can be replaced with a 100k dollar capital expense that will last 10+ years, you won’t stand much of a chance and neither will the business if it doesn’t replace you with a better model. Negates the benefits for healthcare, vacation, disability insurance and general shit head not showing up for work. No breaks, no vacations no sick leave and as long as its reliable, it’s a win for the business.
Also, it would stifle the heck out of any effort to get people to take responsibility for their lives and do what they need to do toimprove and climb the ladder, why would anyone ever want to go to school when all they have to do is draw this money and hang out at the beach. Mobs of people on the beach, reduced tourism, reduced money, need to raise taxes and fees to keep the game going...What happens if you actually DO work and earn say, 100K a year, do you NOT get the feebie? If so, why? This will be a royal mess, straight out of several Sci Fi novels I have read....
1. Cash payments are easier to shut off than an agency. The agency has its employees lobbying to keep their job. It often builds things rather than buying them, e.g. the VA, to shut it down you have decrease employees and sell/privatize assets.
2. Hawaii can be a "test laboratory" for this idea, as the founders intended the states and local gov'ts to be. It's a smaller state by population, so fewer people are subjected to this experiment. It's remote, so the results will be less skewed by people moving there just to get the benefits.
3. It's a naked form of the government taking your money and handing to the poor. If gov't buys healthcare, for example, we can talk about "this nation's healthcare system", without saying aloud whether you're talking about the market of providers and customers, the regulations, or the subsidies. Direct cash payments make it harder to hide what's happening.
4. The poor may in some cases be surprising more resourceful than a social worker at spending the money. The social worker might be better at keeping people from blowing it all on alcohol and other drugs, but a few broke people will get that money with no strings attached and do something great with it that would not be allowed by maternalistic gov't programs.
So yea, there's plenty of money for this program. Our state legislature is a disgrace.
Aloha