[_heimdall]

Handing out money will never make resources appear where they don't exist though. And if we want to say everyone should have access to certain resources, having money as an intermediary actually does us a diservice.

If everyone should have access to water, federalize water utilities and don't charge anyone. You will them have to deal with access rights though. How much water is enough for everyone to have access to? How do we avoid water rights issues even worse than what California has?

Defining certain resources as a fundamental right while still forcing them to operate as a free market is a risky game of chicken. If prices are still able to fluctuate in response to market supply & demand then we really aren't saying we truly believe everyone should have water, shelter, etc. A UBI is only an agreement that some amount of money is a fundamental right, nothing more.

[thunky]

> A UBI is only an agreement that some amount of money is a fundamental right, nothing more.

Conveniently, money can be used to acquire resources.

[_heimdall]

Also conveniently, when prices are partly decided by market factors the fundamental right to a resource may be impacted. If we really think everyone should be guaranteed access to water, electricity, housing, food, etc those resources would just be available and wouldn't require the market abstraction of money.