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    bbutle01Hamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:07am

    So basically everyone earning near that amount now would quit their job because why work for it?

    If it’s if it’s means Based, and not universal, as in for everyone, then it’s called welfare. It sounds like just a simplified version of what the US is doing.

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      You might be wrong.bbutle01
      5/06/16 9:14am

      That’s not been the experience when basic income has been tried out elsewhere. Only new mothers and the underage become less likely to work.

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      DolemiteYou might be wrong.
      5/06/16 9:33am

      I guess it depends on what I would be doing. If it’s my dream job that I love to do, and look forward to doing every day, then I could see working, even if my pay was close to the guaranteed income. If its a job that I hate or just generally don’t want to do (basically 95% of jobs), I’d stay home, unless jobs all paid like 4000 a month or something.

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    IAMBlastedBiggsLostBurnerHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:08am

    Yeah, well, so fucking what? It’s Switzerland, and what have they ever done?! No, I mean besides managing to stay completely neutral throughout almost their entire history as a nation as every country surrounding them warred throughout the last six centuries, create a badass pocket knife, become one of the most cultured and refined countries on the planet, and have a populace that ranks among the healthiest, happiest, and most educated in the world?

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      ManchuCandidateIAMBlastedBiggsLostBurner
      5/06/16 9:10am

      We can’t have that.

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      NumaNumaIAMBlastedBiggsLostBurner
      5/06/16 9:11am

      Well, there was this little gem:

      http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-…

      But I get your point.

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    Quasar FunkHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:06am

    I don’t know, this plan has a lot of holes in it. I’m pretty neutral about the whole thing.

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      ThenSAQuasar Funk
      5/06/16 9:08am

      Based on the way the flags are flying, it looks like it will be positive.

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      thechurchofbillhicksQuasar Funk
      5/06/16 9:09am
      GIF
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    skefflesHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:27am

    It’ll probably take a couple of attempts to get this through. People are too selfish and too hardwired to think that someone else getting something degrades what they already have. Plus we also hold grudges like “I had it hard getting X, so everyone else must have it hard even though it would be better to make it easier for everyone to get X and save a lot of misery and make sure nobody else has to suffer like I did”.

    GIve it time though, once people start rolling an idea around things can change pretty quickly.

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      Dolemiteskeffles
      5/06/16 9:31am

      I dunno, if I’m making 5,000 a month, I probably wouldn’t care, but if I’m at a hellhole job making 2900 a month and I can have a basic income of 2600 a month (tax free!) then hell no I’m not working.

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      spacepiggieDolemite
      5/06/16 9:40am

      Fine, as long as you keep buying shit. That’s the only purpose a significant percentage of the population really serves anyway. The economy is full of fake jobs that could be eliminated with no negative effect on output, that only really exist out of habit, and because we need to keep the money circulating.

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    nocturnalkittyHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:38am

    I like the idea, but I think 2,600 and 650 are way too high. Seems like something that will make your country go bankrupt. How about 2,000 bucks on every birthday that is placed in an account that can only be used for school, college, vocational etc. whatever isn’t used gets passed on to your offspring or goes back into the pot for everyone if you do not have children. If the country can afford it then 1,000 for adults those who don’t need it will have 1,000 bucks without taxes. If the country can afford more then increase the amount. I have no issue with a country doing this as long as they can afford it and if they can’t the educational fund is far more important.

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      brakkanocturnalkitty
      5/06/16 12:02pm

      You must not be familiar with Switzerland. It has the cost of living on the level of NYC. Good luck trying to do anything but keep the lights on in le suisse on $2600/month.

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      helgapereznocturnalkitty
      5/06/16 12:31pm

      One of the benefits of a guaranteed minimum income is increased educational levels. People have the idea that a guaranteed minimum income will turn everyone into mooching couch potatoes, but past experiments show that is unlikely to happen.

      I am concerned about the long-term viability of guaranteed minimum income, especially considering what has happened to many US city pension funds. However, I don’t think that is an argument against guaranteed minimum income, but against corruption and shortsightedness. Even if we did institute a guaranteed minimum income for a short time, it could have lasting positive effects if a generation has lower high-school dropout rates and better overall health (two likely consequences of a guaranteed minimum income).

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    lJN9yQQDBepFiHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:06am

    Yes, I'm sure that prices won't go up as a result.

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      You might be wrong.lJN9yQQDBepFi
      5/06/16 9:16am

      That’s good because pretty much every economist on the left and the right who’s ever seriously looked into the idea agrees with you!

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      lJN9yQQDBepFiYou might be wrong.
      5/06/16 10:28am

      Source?

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    tornadoslackssHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:03am

    Ha ha, this would never happen here in the U.S. At some point, some folks will be lucky if they are allowed a universal right to exist.

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      think carbontornadoslackss
      5/06/16 9:06am

      We’d better figure something out since millions of commercial drivers and truckers will be out of work within 5 or 10 years. Self driving taxis within a year. Many ride share drivers are already driving as a last resort anyway. http://qz.com/677394/self-dr…

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      thenewcaptornadoslackss
      5/06/16 9:07am

      Well, we can’t give the poor people money for doing nothing, right? But fuck you if you think we’ll not bail some banks out for nearly crippling our economy.

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    ghostandgoblinHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:29am

    I don’t like the means-tested part of it. It basically turns it into another welfare program, and we know how welfare programs go.

    The reason why Social Security is still around today is because everybody gets it. Whenever you here a Republican talking about means-testing it, they’re playing the long game.

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      amgarreghostandgoblin
      5/06/16 9:57am

      Agree. As soon as Social Security is seen as a welfare program, it’s gone or drastically reduced. But when liberals talk about eliminating the cap on earnings subject to Social Security, it presents same danger. The cap should be lifted but not eliminated. Because once you eliminate it and the 1 percent pay so much more than the rest of us, they will want to dictate terms of payouts.

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      Xan1567amgarre
      5/06/16 10:32am

      You disagree with the idea that those with more skin in the game should have more say in how said skin is allocated?

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    AcridsheepHamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:20am

    “no-strings-attached universal basic income is still treated as a utopian idea in America”

    Any legislative proposal that even approximates some kind of basic income for all would be the opening salvo in a civil war. It would be a struggle to put together a sentence more out of touch with the American cultural and political landscape than this one.

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      CharltonHestonsColdDeadHandsAcridsheep
      5/06/16 9:41am

      Well, to be fair, “All persons are created equal and deserve equal protection under the law” would cause half my FB feed to rage-shit themselves.

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      kamla deviAcridsheep
      5/06/16 9:54am

      This is so sadly true.

      If you ever bring up this idea - even to well-educated, self-labeled “liberals” they act like you’ve said “Why don’t we all just eat babies?”

      So much wasted human potential as low-income wage slaves. It’s a sad world.

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    thwarted666Hamilton Nolan
    5/06/16 9:30am

    SOCIALISM! COMMUNISM!

    RICH PEOPLE SHOULD GET MORE, I SAY!

    etc.

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