Week 08 Reflection -- Universal Basic Income More Than it's Worth?

Universal basic income in theory seems like a very socialistic policy, however there are many ways that it can be a non-socialist policy which were given in a lecture from Dr. Trost. Originally, just based on the definitions and descriptions of Universal basic income, I do feel like it has socialistic tendencies, and it seems like there is just more negatives than positives. As I previously discussed in my response, my issues with this policy is that I feel that it would encourage people to work less rather than to work more. I think that, no matter how this policy and belief is looked at, it would still cause the same issues and prevent beneficial growth rather than encourage it. I feel that examples in our government that sort of emulate this policy is with unemployment and food stamps from the government. Unemployment in the US has been a recent issue with all of the COVID-19 problems, and it has been a rollercoaster. On one hand I do agree with the government supporting their citizens in hard times, especially when it isn't their fault and they have no control over the issue, however I grew up on the "tough love" principle and do think that being too generous with unappreciative people will get you bit in the butt. I think that unemployment can be beneficial to an extent, however, when people are using it to their advantage and making it clear that they want to make no contributions to society that is when I think the policy is failing us and they need to face the music. In Dr. Trost's lecture, he mentions a quote from F. A. Hayek stating how a bare minimum of sustenance should be given from our government because there are people who cannot earn enough to vbe secure. I do agree that many issues such as homeless-ness and starvation of people should be eradicated in a country as wealthy as the US, however, like I was explaining earlier, I feel that this may have an opposite affect where it actually encourages people to survive off the bare minimum because there is no motivation or drive to perform. I think that this also connects with how I feel that people should not really be given any freebies in this sense because I feel that I closely follow the common saying of "if there is a will, there is a way". I think that if someone was motivated and passionate enough they would go to extreme lengths to make their dreams a reality. I think that life is mostly all about prioritizing and working hard to achieve goals. These beliefs I hold lead me to the conclusion that a policy like universal basic income would not be beneficial for our country.