[sokoloff]

In today's world, absent social security or other income programs, $1MM in a post-tax account provides about $35K in income over a 60+ year projected period of non-work (aka "retirement").

This is about 75% of the median income for families of 4 and has to cover everything (including rent, unless you take some of the $1MM and buy a house, reducing your safe withdrawal rate accordingly).

That's a fairly spartan existence, IMO. Proponents of basic income systems (which are certainly appealing emotionally and viscerally) need to account for how to give every family the purchasing power of millionaires, forever. That seems economically a non-starter, regardless of whether or not I think it would be awesome to live in such a world where every precious hour of my labor could be devoted to improving my family's comfort and overall lot in life instead of more than half of it going to "run the family".