[gustavo-fring]

Ok. Thank you for the input. Google-fu brings this cite from dw:

€1,500 ($1,700) per month gross for full-time workers, Germany has one of the highest minimum wages in the European Union.

So it seems you made about $20k. Obviously, this isn't much money, so props to you for that. It is about double what UBI could offer (at least in the US) in a country with one of the greatest social safety nets in the world.

Don't mean to castigate you nor be overly personal, but do feel like it is important to put into context.

[true_religion]

I don’t understand all the comparisons to the US here. The article is talking about Finland, and the comment poster is from Germany.

Is anyone saying this is appropriate for the US right now?

In my opinion, the US has a long way to go before even beginning to consider such practices. The UBI is something EU nations can experiment with, not the US.

[elliekelly]

Can you elaborate? Why can EU countries experiment with UBI but not the US?

[jeromegv]

The most basic thing about US society is that each and every single person is responsible for their own american dream. Constantly you hear of people arguing that they shouldn't pay for someone else mistake, someone else healthcare, someone else life, etc.. "I worked hard, why don't they work hard like I did" The idea that sometimes the collective good is better than the single individual isn't something that is agreed at a large scale. That's why you cannot imagine the US having UBI. Even in the middle of the pandemic, where having more people being treated/taken care of would be better for the common good but also for you as an individual (less people that can infect other people!), you still have no strong movement for universal health care.

[yurishimo]

The US can’t even figure out healthcare. How do we expect to facilitate paying everyone vast sums of cash when we can’t even coordinate a public option for healthcare due a variety of reasons? The stimulus check nonsense around covid is a prime example. So many people got screwed because they didn’t have a bank account or were exempt from paying taxes.

Those structural issues aren’t present in most European countries due to the expanded social safety nets. The US needs to implement a lot of infrastructure between the government and the citizenry to facilitate and distribute a program like UBI effectively.

I’m an American who wants a ubi, but we’re not ready structurally to handle it in the current political climate of any foreseeable political future in the next decade, IMO.

[rumanator]

> Can you elaborate? Why can EU countries experiment with UBI but not the US?

US's Overton Window is extremely far away from this kind of social policies. If the US can't agree on the fundamental importance of a socialized healthcare service then more daring experimental social policies such as a livable basic income is too far out to even contemplate.

But it would be awesome if they did, though. Perhaps if they slapped a "Milton Friedman approves this" sticker on it.