Thread by @AlexHowlettUBI

@eddiechu888 @Delecarta @JohnHLee02 @scottsantens @AndrewYang @Noahpinion @paulkrugman @DeanBaker13 @Nouriel @erikbryn I have a few points to make.

1/6 The government represents everyone, not just taxpayers. The money the government spends is not "taxpayer money." Restricting government spending to tax revenues is a political decision.

greshm.org/blog/tax-reven…

@eddiechu888 @Delecarta @JohnHLee02 @scottsantens @AndrewYang @Noahpinion @paulkrugman @DeanBaker13 @Nouriel @erikbryn 2/6 The amount of money the government can afford to hand out to people as #BasicIncome is determined by the capacity of the economy to respond productively to the new level of consumer spending.

greshm.org/blog/theres-on…

@eddiechu888 @Delecarta @JohnHLee02 @scottsantens @AndrewYang @Noahpinion @paulkrugman @DeanBaker13 @Nouriel @erikbryn 3/6 A #BasicIncome doesn't need to be "funded." By acting as a blanket tax on the whole economy, VAT actually *reduces* the amount of #UBI we can afford.

greshm.org/blog/andrew-ya…

@eddiechu888 @Delecarta @JohnHLee02 @scottsantens @AndrewYang @Noahpinion @paulkrugman @DeanBaker13 @Nouriel @erikbryn 4/6 Making moral arguments about what people "deserve" is not usually going to lead to the optimal policy. You say people are shareholders and are therefore entitled to dividends. But this is view really going to achieve the best outcome?

greshm.org/blog/justice-i…

@eddiechu888 @Delecarta @JohnHLee02 @scottsantens @AndrewYang @Noahpinion @paulkrugman @DeanBaker13 @Nouriel @erikbryn 5/6 Why don't we just pay out the maximum #UBI we can afford? A sovereign wealth fund of bailed-out businesses isn't going to increase that amount. It only serves to entangle the government's interests with those businesses.

greshm.org/blog/poverty-i…

@eddiechu888 @Delecarta @JohnHLee02 @scottsantens @AndrewYang @Noahpinion @paulkrugman @DeanBaker13 @Nouriel @erikbryn 6/6 The sovereign wealth fund is merely an excuse to pay out a #BasicIncome that we could already have afforded to pay out. This sounds like a bad idea to me.

Check out this article to read more about how I think about money and the economy.

bit.ly/intro-to-cmt