Let's play a game
May. 2nd, 2014 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valarltdUniversal Basic Income is a form of social security paid out to EVERY citizen, just for being citizens. It is aimed at eliminating poverty and has been effective in some areas.
"Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, based in North Carolina, receive payments of several thousand dollars twice a year. These payments are dividends from the profits of the Harrah's Cherokee casino, and have been distributed since 1996. A study of the payments' effects on the children of the community found significant declines in poverty, behavioral problems, crime, substance abuse and psychiatric problems, and increases in on-time graduation. The effects were primarily found among those who were youngest when the payments began, and among those who were lifted out of poverty rather than those who were already well-off."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/what-happens-when-the-poor-receive-a-stipend/
So let's play a game.
Your baseline needs: housing, electricity, water, a food ration (kibble, enough for each person per month), a minimal phone and a clothing allowance are covered. Your medical, dental and vision care is free. There is excellent transportation and you get a bus pass. If you want luxuries: a fancy phone, tech toys, better transportation, fancier clothes or better food, you work.
Would you work?
Where would you work?
If you wouldn't work, what would you do?
Me, I would still write. I would still publish. If I could, I would drive a truck again, but only on a no-touch dedicated. I would grow a garden.
The next question is: why aren't you doing these things? (barring health issues or a black thumb)
"Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, based in North Carolina, receive payments of several thousand dollars twice a year. These payments are dividends from the profits of the Harrah's Cherokee casino, and have been distributed since 1996. A study of the payments' effects on the children of the community found significant declines in poverty, behavioral problems, crime, substance abuse and psychiatric problems, and increases in on-time graduation. The effects were primarily found among those who were youngest when the payments began, and among those who were lifted out of poverty rather than those who were already well-off."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/what-happens-when-the-poor-receive-a-stipend/
So let's play a game.
Your baseline needs: housing, electricity, water, a food ration (kibble, enough for each person per month), a minimal phone and a clothing allowance are covered. Your medical, dental and vision care is free. There is excellent transportation and you get a bus pass. If you want luxuries: a fancy phone, tech toys, better transportation, fancier clothes or better food, you work.
Would you work?
Where would you work?
If you wouldn't work, what would you do?
Me, I would still write. I would still publish. If I could, I would drive a truck again, but only on a no-touch dedicated. I would grow a garden.
The next question is: why aren't you doing these things? (barring health issues or a black thumb)
