Trevor FlowersI wish more people who are worried about FOSS supply side attacks would realize that universal basic income and free healthcare would result in an almost infinite stream of excellent software from people who care more about quality than profit.
Graham Downs@trevorflowers The problem with UBI, that I still struggle to wrap my head around, is inflation, and the fact that the more money you pump into an economy, the less that money is worth.
As a South African in his mid-40s, I'm quite familiar with what happened in Zimbabwe, when Robert Mugabe decided it was a good idea to print large sums of money, and before you knew it, one US dollar was costing twenty million Zimbabwean dollars, and in Zimbabwe, a loaf of bread cost ten million. Years after Mugabe's death, they're still struggling with that; the economy is in a total shambles, and it's likely to take multiple generations to recover.
Or further back in history, with Argentina's silver rush. Everyone had silver, so before long, silver was worth bupkiss.
I see it happening with UBI. If everyone suddenly has $1000 a month to spend, regardless of their class or occupation, then before long, a loaf of bread is going to start costing $500.
I haven't read any UBI proposals yet that address that possibility or offer any potential solutions to it.
Short of government stepping in and directly capping prices of everything. But that sounds like a terrible idea to me. :(
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