You are viewing a single comment's thread from:

RE: UBI Works - Basic Income Talking Points Fact Sheet

in Canada2 years ago

Binary polls on UBI are dumb because people who don't critically think will generally agree that it's a good idea in theory but once you start getting into a back and forth on the numbers and economics opinions vary wildly. The problem with reading this document and then making a judgement is that it only makes a strong case in favour of UBI and would bias anyone taking a poll. Parsing these things out in the data driven nature they have laid out is interesting but highly flawed. This methodology allows them to cherrypick whatever statistic makes their case best especially when you consider nearly every statistic they used assumed a causality link when the data merely shows correlation. The only thing CERB can be certain to have caused is inflation which they failed to mention.

I'm not anti UBI but I think the important thing to consider is how other social programs and other initiatives can more effectively solve many of these problems. Food deserts can be solved directly with food banks. Wanting more people to start small businesses is solved way better with grants. The most interesting thing to consider in all this is the technology and automation angle. I don't see how UBI can be affirmed as a solution to this problem and is just as myopic as hashtag learntocode.

Many people used CERB in very wasteful ways like getting drunk and only 10% used it to start a business. I don't really like to judge people for what they choose to spend their money on but its important to note how effective these programs are and we will likely see an uptick in people judging other people's purchases when they have it in their mind that it's coming out of their taxes so this has the potential to increase animosity in communities.