An Argument for UBI (2024)

Economic Equity

Well… I fell down another rabbit hole.

Have you read up on the ideas of Universal Basic Income and/or guaranteed basic income programs? I really feel like these are ideas whose time has come. It seems the only way to level the economic playing field in a system designed to create billionaires by ballooning poverty.

As a policy objective, the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) seems to be gaining support. Sectors of the conservative thought see it as a replacement for our existing, deeply flawed Federal safety-net. Progressive thought considers it a supplement to help level the economic playing field.

The current US safety-net system often seems to penalize recipients. Assistance is barely subsistence income, leaving recipients falling further and further behind economically. If you’re on assistance, getting a job cuts off that support. Even with a new job, financial recovery is hampered by the loss of assistance. And, let’s be completely real here: it’s virtually non-existent for someone on assistance to jump to a well-paying job straight from welfare.

If UBI was the national standard, every citizen would receive regular and unconditional…