| > B is for Basic, not funding your passion projects. This petition is explicitly about giving everyone a middle class lifestyle for no contributions. People are quite content at middle class lifestyle. We're not talking "struggling artist" here, we're talking "yeah, I'm doing quite well. Haven't quite decided what my book will be about yet, though". Like the parent comment said, we're already failing at funding social security even with the classical age pyramid (which is disappearing, by the way), and now we want to expand that to not just seniors but EVERYONE? It's just completely unworkable. For the other things you mention, yes we do have a bunch of social problems. UBI is not the answer, or at least isn't the answer in the form this petition asks for. Two things are ridiculous: the "U" in UBI stands for zero means-testing, and in this petition made explicit again. The second is that middle-class is just way too high to aim for. I'm in favour of more spending on the poor and homeless, even when it's not "fair". I'm even for less "punishment" and more "rehabilitation" for crimes, even when it's not "fair". Society is better off if (hyperbole alert here) criminals are rewarded for their crimes by getting education and support, than if they're stomped on. But the idea of UBI (as proposed here) is broken on every level, with society-ending first and second order effects. People add value to society because they get "social credits" (aka money), that they can then use to better their own lives or their causes. If you remove that aspect then people will do what they want, not what needs to be done or is valued. |