[LadyCailin]

I think it’s totally fair to ask who is supposed to pay for that. I don’t want the guy who grows the food I eat to stop and go paint, I like eating more than I like him painting. There are plenty of jobs that aren’t fulfilling in the slightest, they are just a means to a paycheck, but are absolutely vital to society. And if those people quit to go make art, we’re all screwed. I don’t think that’s an unfair ask to have a comprehensive answer to.

[zuminator]

If those jobs are really absolutely vital, in a basic income regime they would be well paying enough to entice people to earn the extra disposable income.

[appreciatorBus]

So food will be more expensive?

[44520297]

More expensive relative to what? In nominal terms, everything gets more expensive because of inflation eventually.

[9x39]

Relative to goods with elastic demand, food prices will rise faster because we have to eat. Food prices are also sensitive to its input prices, which also have inelastic demand.

[AngryData]

Labor is a tiny fraction of the cost of food. Last time I did the math only 1% of the cost of flour goes towards a farmer's labor.

[barnabee]

Precisely. There’d likely be a large wealth transfer back towards boring and less skilled jobs if we couldn’t rely on large numbers of people literally having no choice but to take any job they can get.

I struggle to understand how anyone could consider that a bad thing other than for completely selfish reasons.

[9x39]

>if we couldn’t rely on large numbers of people literally having no choice but to take any job they can get.

Having a massive quasi-legal underclass is a choice and it doesn't require UBI to solve it.