67% of over 1,000 Americans surveyed in new poll support #UBI. Support was strongest among Democrats (82%), Gen Z (79%), Finance and Insurance (71%), non-college grads (71%), and those earning under $25,000 (77%).
The top benefit of UBI according to those surveyed was that it would decrease both poverty and inequality, and help those with poor health and disabilities.
The top concerns were that it would reduce the incentive to work and increase the national debt by costing too much.
When asked how people would use their UBI, most people said they'd save it for retirement, or save it for emergencies, or buy groceries, or pay off debt.
GenZ with the strongest support for UBI is the most likely to pay off student loan debt with it.
13% would buy a house. 🏡
A plurality of respondents said that even a UBI under $500/mo would be meaningful to them. On average, respondents felt that UBI would need to be at least $922/mo to be meaningful to them. Republicans wanted more money, while people earning under $25,000 would be happy with less.
46% of respondents supported fully universal basic income. On average, people felt that those with incomes over $241,000 should not be net recipients of UBI. 63% felt UBI should be limited to US citizens only.
Democrats were more likely to prefer means-testing than Republicans.
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There's something about the debate going unsaid when we argue over whether AI will replace human labor or complement it.
If replace, then basic income is definitely needed.
If complement, then it's easy to believe we own the total value of our enhanced labor. But why is that?
If my labor is enhanced by technology, such that my work as a human contributes 10% to what I produce and a machine contributes the other 90%, then why do I deserve anything more than 10%, even if I own the machine?
Now we need to ask where the machine came from...
Robots, AI, computer hardware and software, it all came from the past. Those alive today are building on what those humans no longer with us built, who themselves built on what they were given.
Government spending was invested in all of this technology to grow and accelerate it.
"People perceive national debt as a negative, Grey said. But instead, he argues, you can think of it as a savings account, because people are earning interest through the bonds that they hold."
It is a choice we make to issue Treasury securities $1 for $1 of federal spending that exceeds taxes. We don't have to do that, but it's popular because people like earning a US government guaranteed rate of interest.
The US issues USD. We choose to also issue securities that pay USD interest. Our 14th Amendment says we can't default on any of our promised payments. Just keep making the payments, and we may as well also issue a $1 trillion coin to demonstrate we don't have to issue securities.
This is good but I wish it also included how Medicare Part D doesn't even carry the same issue as the rest of Medicare because it was set up to use general revenue. It's the example that proves all that's required to "fix Social Security" is just a legislative change in wording.
If we decide to reduce Social Security payments in the future, that's a political choice. We certainly don't have to do that. We can keep making 100% of payments, and no we don't even have to lift the cap on payroll taxes. We can just spend the money.
It's really harmful how wide and how strong the myth-based belief is that the national "debt" is some big scary loan of some kind instead of being more like a savings account and how running a deficit is somehow bad regardless of what the spending is for.
At their annual meeting, the Southern African Quaker Community voted in support of the introduction of a universal basic income for all people legally in South Africa. Here they explain the reasons behind the resolution.
"The poverty-stricken masses have nothing going for them, see no hope for their future, and have nothing to lose. South Africa is a tinderbox that will catch fire if a match is thrown into it... South Africa may be considered a real-world example of where the world is going."
"In our view as Quakers, unconditional universality is pivotal. First, this emphasizes the equality and worth of all. Second, it avoids introducing a massive bureaucracy and associated procedures, often carried out by uncaring officials and involving lengthy waits."
Pre-pandemic, employment increased quite a bit in the basic income group, but the increase did not remain significant during the pandemic. It's possible that this and other non-significant results were due to unexpected attrition by the end of the experiment. (more on that later)
Income volatility was another measure that decreased significantly pre-pandemic, but did not remain significant, as did psychological distress. People in the basic income group moved from "likely to have a mental health disorder" to "likely to be well" in year one, pre-Covid.