Universal Basic Income

[skyfall123]

1 The government gives food stamps, healthcare, section 8 vouchers because they are poor. But what occurs is they become so dependent on those handouts that they are stuck there and can't advance. What gets rewarded gets repeated.
2 you have people that bust their butt who don't want to be in number 1 and work many hours who have to pay 2&3 times for health insurance so people in number 1 don't have to. They have 1/3 of their check taken away on various taxes directly or indirectly and the other 1/3 goes to housing. Then they split cost of living with roommates or a spouse often leaving nothing left over an der stuck at #2.
3 you have people who have a great salary and health benefits who do not want 1&2 to advance because it greatly benefits them, less competition.
4 companies like Walmart who hire people in #1 who they pay little to so their salaries are subsidized by the government through food stamps which they happen to use at Walmart to buy groceries. Also people in #2 shop at Walmart to cut costs. So there is a great benefit for #3&4 to keep #1&2 where they are without advancement.
5 the super rich who invest in #4 well they don't want #1&2 to advance either.

I'm not a WalMart shopper and I dont know anyone who has ever worked at WalMart but I appreciate the fact that you are using them as an example to make your point. This provides a good basis for the discussion. When discussing UBI it is probably a good idea to take the broadest view as discussed in Economics courses or by Economists. WalMart is a great example because they provide 1.4 million jobs in the US and like you said many, most of their employees qualify for government assistance and WalMart is likely one of the biggest benefactors of the SNAP program. Meaning that it is estimated that upwards of 20% of all food stamp purchases are made at WalMart. On top of that the 1.4 million jobs (many in rural areas) are vital to those communities or at least represent a large share of employment for certain areas. WalMart basically came in to many communities, changed the face and culture of many communities and drove many/most of the small competing businesses out of business (never to return). Then in an effort to maintain their survival WalMart said OMG we better get into the grocery business because our current model of selling cheap Chinese melamine furniture and other assorted cheap clothing manufactured overseas is unsustainable. So low and behold WalMart now starts competing with local grocery stores and drives the local community family run grocery stores that made up many of the communities. So WalMart almost single handedly changed the fabric of rural America. Now lets back up to the large scale economy. What happens when WalMart and all of those jobs in all of those communities goes away? Not going to happen? Amazon and others start accepting SNAP this summer, Amazon gets in the grocery business including fresh produce. So now you look ten years into the future.....instead of your parents getting into their car, they order their food online from Amazon or some other iteration and get it delivered to their door. Why waste the time, energy, gas etc....if you van have fresh products delivered to your door? WalMart goes the way of Sears, Kmart, shopping malls etc....the 1.4 million jobs lost evolve into 100,000 jobs at Amazon and 1.3 more jobs are lost. You get the point. Its really analogous to BlockBuster video and streaming movies? Remember having to actually get into your car, go to a store and rent a movie? Why go to WalMart when Amazon can deliver anything WalMart offers and about 1000 times more?

Economists realize that the time is fast approaching where there are will not be enough jobs for the population. There needs to be a structure in place, a baseline to handle the population. The "federal goverment" is trying to anticipate how things will play out in the next 20 years, while knowing there is a limit to what they can actually do. Does calling the "federal government" the enemy change or help anything? Not really. You can say "F" the poor....but that doesn't really solve the actual problem that is coming....