Sunday, April 24, 2016

Guaranteed Basic Income

Not trying to get political but I have had lots of thoughts related to getting out of debt and the concept of universal basic income.
To start I want to state where I stand so that one you can identify my bias in what I say, and two because everyone likes their opinion to be heard.

I am for a universal basic income. There are lots of factors that have got me to this point, however, I believe that our countries current circumstances will not allow us to implement such a program. I believe that it is and will be possible for us to get to the point where America is ready to implement this policy. But if certain conditions are not met before doing so I believe that it will impoverish our country to the point that we will no longer be a super power and instead be a second rate country just trying to keep a float. These conditions are: getting America out of debt, removing debt from our country's mindset, and increasing our country's GDP.

This is a topic of conversation that comes up a lot between my husband and I. We both feel that creative jobs are the future and we will not the huge group of manual laborers. In addition, I am more for a program like this instead of all the individual programs that are out there. Part of my favor for this program is based on a program for the homeless that I read about in Utah. The program gives a place to live and a minimum allowance for the person to spend. What made this program so unique was that there was no strings attached. They didn't have to get or stay clean of drugs. If they wanted to get clean there were services offered to them. But they were given the agency to live how they wanted. The program has been wildly successful.

I like that a program such as Guaranteed Basic Income because it gives the agency to the people. So much of what the Left wants to put in place I do not like because what it comes down to is taking away our agency to choose to be charitable and takes away the agency of recipients.

Between my thoughts on America's debt and a recent episode of Freakonomics, this has brought a lot of thoughts together.

Thought One: There are those that argue that the vast amounts of accumulated debt is greatly linked with the low wages and a guaranteed basic income could eliminate the idea that debt is needed.

Personally I do not think that a Basic income would help the debt issues in this nation. I think it *might* decrease those using "payday loans" but without most Americans changing their mindset that debt is needed then we will just have more low income people in more debt because this is "income" and high income opens you up to higher amounts of debt.

Though Two: If America was to implement a Universal income, yes it will help. But so many of American's are underwater, the majority of what they would be receiving will be going to pay off their debt. And if Americans haven't changed their mindset about debt the basic needs that the universal income is there to cover won't be able to be covered. It will be going to pay interest. No amount will ever be enough to give someone who doesn't know how to budget their money and stay out of debt. No amount is enough if they do not know how to live within their means.

We can not force people to make their lives better. However, they will first need to be taught how to make their lives better or the cycle will continue. 

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