[bijowo1676]

we had this UBI experiment during COVID lockdown and PPP loans, and what happened??

People splurged all government given money on luxury items and unnecessary stuff, or just gambled it way on stock market or betting.

UBI does NOT work in the US and will never work. More sensible approach is what China does: low prices.

Just massively lower prices for basic cost of living items, so that even Uber driver could live normal life

[graemep]

UBI has been tried experimentally around the world many places including the US and did not have that effect "the money people had received was not squandered on frivolous products such as drugs and luxury goods": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_basic_income_pilots

Which experiments were successful depends on what your desired outcomes were, but none were as bad a you suggest, I would say many succeeded.

I do not know how COVID support worked in the US, but one of the things you refer to seems to be loans to businesses, which is very different from UBI. Were people given a fixed and guaranteed income stream not linked to earnings during COVID?

[azan_]

Standard of life for avg uber driver is much higher in us compared with china.

[r14c]

My impression is that China has a pretty high standard of living. They have been extremely successful in reducing poverty over the last few decades. You should see how shiny even some of the third tier cities are.

[graemep]

Shiny bits in some cities do not prove anything. Lots of countries have bits with a high standard of living despite a low national average.

[vharuck]

I wouldn't use the COVID economy to understand anything except "What happens to an economy during a pandemic?" People had more money, but there was a lot less to spend on for a while. Not to mention the psychological effects of lockdowns, restrictions, or quarantining.