The Great Debate - Free College For All

[Life Long Learning]

I'm not a fan of UBI, but Andrew Wang's proposal is to give everyone $1,000 per month. Anyone who would drop out of high school because they're getting $1,000 per month, sorry to say it, isn't very bright. That's a poverty income. 

This is a detailed article on Finland's experiment. 

https://medium.com/basic-income/what-is-...b8e5051f60

First, there was no mention of the amount when my kid heard the premise, she's plenty bright.

Second, she's 16, and hates school, and has virtually no notion of how much things cost, so she can also be forgiven for not knowing that at this point in her life; that being said, see my first point.

Third, this will be enough for some people, unfortunately.

Fourth, this isn't anywhere close to what some people get for welfare now, so I'm not certain how it would work for someone who is on that now - here in CA, rent alone is going to be more than $1000/mo unless you're in the most rural of rural areas.  So it's not going to help expensive states much at all.  Not sure how to fix that, I guess to give everyone here more?  Not really certain.

I believe that's part of the plan. It's cheaper than welfare. The welfare system punishes those who find low-paying jobs. If you get a full-time job that pays minimum wage, your assistance is cut drastically. Knowing that minimum wage is not enough to support a family and pay for childcare, people look for workarounds to stay on welfare and avoid work. With UBI, people will receive less than they would while being on food stamps, TANF, WIC, and Section 8, but they would receive more assistance while working. Finland's experiment failed because they didn't cut the treatment group's benefits.

I agree with you.  The welfare system punishes those who find low-paying jobs.  It should reward having any productive legal job.

Where we might differ is the "Cheap Votes Party" Dems love permanent poor folks.  They will just enact new programs on top of the UBI.  Eventually, the US UBI system will fail as Finland's did.