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mcvtoday at 9:38 AM3 repliesview on HN

If all of that is possible, why not just provide a reliable basic income? Why does it need to feel like a politician is bribing you for your vote?


Replies

danbructoday at 10:11 AM

A basic income does not really change the amount of money people have available. You exchange paying some amount of taxes and handing the money to people qualifying for government benefits for paying more taxes and handing out money to everyone. You may save some money on the bureaucracy for figuring out who is eligible for how much benefits, you may make life easier for people having to apply for benefits, but you also give up the ability to match benefits to individual circumstances making some better and others worse off, you may create some additional incentive not to take a job, ... But to a first approximation everyone will have the same amount of money available.

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ameliustoday at 10:08 AM

"feel like" ?

kotaKattoday at 11:39 AM

(None of it was possible. We haven't gotten the purported DOGE dividend, or tarriff refunds. Though the $500 Obamacare 'refunds' are in the works and the soldiers all got some $1776 bonus... and everyone's suddenly privately funding the Trump accounts as a bribe to him, I guess.)