Guaranteed Income and Living Wage Schemes Cannot Possibly Work

Guaranteed Income and Living Wage Schemes Cannot Possibly Work:

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg Supports Universal Basic Income.

In its basic form, universal basic income means “everyone gets a paycheck, whether they have a job or not.”

Many expect even more. They want a guaranteed “living wage”.

Useless Trials

Such schemes cannot possibly work. But that does not stop fools from trying.

For example, Finland is giving out a guaranteed monthly income of nearly $600 to 2,000 citizens.

Canada’s province of Ontario, which includes Toronto, started a pilot program in April that provides 4,000 citizens with an unconditional income of about $12,600 a year. Applicants must be between ages 18 and 64 and living on a limited income.

Those studies cannot prove anything, no matter what the results.

Free Money Proposals Do Not Scale

Sure, one can do a trial and show that 20,000 or whatever sample size is better off.

However, any benefit to the trial participants must at the expense of a bigger deficit or higher taxes on everyone else.

Imagine giving 200 million people a guaranteed living wage. Who is going to pay for it?

Next, imagine all of Europe doing this coupled with freedom of movement.

Why stop there? Imagine the same program for the entire world? Free money for everyone!

Mike “Mish” Shedlock

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1 thought on “Guaranteed Income and Living Wage Schemes Cannot Possibly Work”

  1. Basic income does (and will) work, and it highly helps economy.
    German GDP growed since immigrants came, because these people get government money and spend them with retailers, which have profit and spend it on artisans, etc. This has got a multiplication effect. Only money paid to foreign “investor” predator stock-owners are completely lost from the nation.

    The concept was also called “Helicopter money” and more renowned economists have lobbied for it.

    In the robotized world of very near future, there will be no other possibility, than to give people basic income, since there would not be enough manual work, or to exterminate them, or to let them starve and riot, or will we crush the robots? There is no other possibility…

    And since elites know, that this demand is on the table, they have sent us immigrants to show us, where would such welfare for citizens lead. The other reasons for immigrants are diluting disenting voters in elections, and most of all: they have put these hordes of barbars in front of our eyes, so that we cry and look elsewhere then needed – while they are struggling to replace us with robots instead…

    With a basic income, a lot of people will be able to do non-profitable useful things, making their neighbourhoods nice and liveable, taking care of elderly, etc. Half of people would sit down and be bored, but that will level out… After all, what to do with them, if everything would be manufactured by robots, and to have people employed at “services”, you need customers, who can pay for those services…

    Question: “Who is going to pay for it?” is baseless. Only important question is: “Can farmers produce enough food for all?”. Yes, they can. All else is just a question of price ratios. Food will become cheaper, while electronics would become more expensive and only those, who beside unconditional income also work, would afford them.

    If everyone gets approximatelly a current poor-retirement payment, price of work will drop down signigficantly, since employers will pay only part of the wage (no minimal wage), the other part will be payed by state. Taxes on production will grow, and if we manage to strip stock-exchange oligarchs of all their booty, there is enough resources for all…
    Again, money is just an expression of ratio of product prices, and if there is enough supply of basic products, growing the demand side can help.

    Under eastern socialism, there was a great task called “Action Z” meaning “gratis” but officially “develop/beautify”. Government paid all materials, and people gave free workforce on weekends and afternoons, more or rather less voluntarily. (Voluntary officially, but then neighbours asked: “Hey comrade, why have you not been working with us ? Are you reactionary?!”)
    A great lot of infrastructure has been built this way, which would be completely unprofitable otherwise. In a small village of few hundred people, there is now shop, pub, culture hall (theater or dance-hall), football field, swiming pool. The other pub was built by a capitalist later, and it is on a verge of bankruptcy, because he has to pay the loan and prices are high…
    This Action Z (gratis) was great for people benefit…

    Reply

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