week 08 reflection -- UBI, the rollarcoster

from: memegenerator.net

Universal basic income is talked about a lot, especially now, with people losing their jobs and prices going up due to shortages, scammers, and overbuying. People are just struggling to find jobs that pay well and jobs are having trouble finding people to employ. A universal income would be a great way to help relieve this burden on the people. However, I initially felt that it would leave some holes in our economy. Obviously having essentially a universal income would drastically change our economy and way of living. I thought that the negatives would outweigh the positives. For instance, it is good that people are guaranteed money, but that would affect motivation and the aspiration of the people. However, Dr. Trost had a great point in his presentation, that the UBI is a bare minimum, only for the basics and as a safety net. *People will want more. More food, more living space, better things, will motivate them to either seek out jobs or become entrepreneurs because it'd be safer and easier to do. *Secondly, I always thought that a Universal basic income would be redundant simply because taxes would take away from your money. But Dr. Trost provides a good point if we tax like normal, but only tax work outside one's universal basic income, then the tax can continue to exist hows it has already been existing in addition to a universal basic income. However, the applications are far more vast, this can help curve our extreme poverty, allow for more people to be in the workforce, and allow even more innovators to have access to tools and resources. I even agree with the policy requirements Dr. Trost played out. It makes sense to have it as an amendment so that it doesn't become a tool for corruption. I also agree with his idea to keep payments tied to the % of a previous year's GDP. This way, we can still have it as an amendment, but it can also be relevant and up to standard, regardless of year or situation. The only downside is that it takes a look at the previous year's GDP, so the application might not be as 100% foolproof or applicable, but it's pretty much the best you can do. What is the most compelling argument and condition Dr. Trost had about his plan was his attitude towards other government welfare programs, he treats it as a universal replacement. This is what sold it for me, it means the power is truly in the people.