Ben ChaseOct 31, 2023
Scott Santens

"With more data at hand than theoretical projection, the evidence is overwhelming: Universal #BasicIncome is working nearly universally."

"In city after city and cohort after cohort — old, young, single parents, ex-convicts — universal basic income has improved health outcomes, raised employment, and bolstered childcare opportunities (and recipients have had consistently better outcomes than control groups)."

UBI works. We know that. It will reduce other costs.

https://www.businessinsider.com/universal-basic-income-works-red-state-blue-state-2023-10

The evidence is overwhelming: Universal basic income works

All across America, giving people free cash is reducing homelessness, increasing employment, and improving health.

Business Insider
Oct 30, 2023 at 4:04pmWeb
Show threadJules she/herOct 30, 2023
@scottsantens "For one, empirical evidence does not equal political will." Well there's a depressing one-sentence summary of the state of the world
Show threadDoug DelamatterOct 30, 2023
@scottsantens What is hardly ever discussed is how it helps small businesses. With truly Universal Basic Income (not means-tested), there is no need for a legislated minimum wage.
Just because a gov't legislates a (say) $15/hr minimum wage, doesn't mean that an employee can generate >$15/h for the shop. If not, that weakens the business, and certainly discourages more hiring.
Wage in-tune with $productivity/hour strengthens small business & increases employment opportunities.
Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Oct 31, 2023

@dougdela @scottsantens The relationship between productivity and wages is fictitious. In the real world, it doesn't exist. If it were real, however, there is no reason why we would want to encourage less productive uses of labor.

You're basically suggesting that we subsidize waste to keep lousy businesses afloat instead of freeing up the resources fir something useful.

Show threadDoug DelamatterOct 31, 2023
@opendna @scottsantens
Tell that to a local coffee shop in a small town. An employee can only serve so many customers per hour. But the dominant issue is more that the traffic is not constant. The employee gets paid $x/hr whether there are 20 customers or two. With a UBI, a business could tie wage to the number of customers served. Not every business needs every employee to be manically busy 8 hr/day to justify its existence.
Show thread+bonifartius 𒂼𒄄Oct 30, 2023

@scottsantens
> [...] raised employment, and bolstered childcare opportunities [...]

let me rephrase:

> work for even less money while giving your kids to the state to beat thei souls into submission.

there, that's better!

Show threadMagess Oct 31, 2023
@scottsantens quick, better do another pilot study
Show threadLimey_TankOct 31, 2023
@scottsantens Billionaires Hate This One Simple Trick
Show threadCon5oleOct 31, 2023

@scottsantens

Giving lump sums monthly to people who need it is not UBI. It's just normal social security.

The closest thing we've seen to UBI is the pandemic payouts, and they resulted in very predictable inflation. Because of the payouts, everything is more expensive forever now. How do we avoid that problem with UBI?