It's an interesting concept and i have seen studies about it before. My only worry would be the people who just want to game the system. Like everything it will be great for some people who will be given the chance to do something worthwhile. But for those who add nothing to society it will just be an excuse not to have to make any effort. The project in finland will be interesting to see how it works out from the comments.
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if you llook deeper into UBI you will discover that it does not matter if people do no effort. It's their choice, or they have other reasons not to 'make effort' When they care for elder people. Or have health issues, or what ever... or just need a break.
Once people get bored they will start doing things. And they will do things that really make a difference.
This is the big gamechanger with the UBI.
The problem with goverrnment UBI 'experiments' is that they don't fully comprehend the 'full package' of the UBI idea. They merely do a limited UBI experiment that leaves out a lot of positives. Then those experiments fail, and we get a shitload of mainstream media explanations of why it can not work.
I also have looked at SBI (Steemit Basic Income) and everytime i look at it i thing WTF?
The rules are not clear to me, and to me it feels just as worse as any other bureacratic set of rules that don't work because only the bureaucrats are able to bend them.
To complicated for a system that should just work.
Still i'm intrested to join in and try it if it is possible to ignore the rules, since they just don't make sense to me.
I appreciate your points but I don't know if i can agree with you. SBI is an interesting concept as well and depending on future steem prices could be a great project. I would love to have revenue steams apart from work that would mean that I could do things that I actually like. I would need to be doing something as I always worked and couldn't sit at home every day. I would actually like to work in the animal rescue center as i love animals and would like to help them. I do a small bit now but work 45 hours a week.
A lot of people wouldn't be of this mindset however. The town where I grew up has very little employment and a lot of the people have social housing and welfare. Thats suits a lot of them very much. Free houses and free money and people try to get as much as they can from this. Getting jobs would only mean a slight bit more income and they would lose some of the external benefits like free healthcare and travel. So instead they pass the time doing very little.
My main motivation is motivation. If people are handed things for free then there is no motivation to do anything. I like the idea of basic income but i feel that there should be work programmes to gain entry. Maybe 20 hours a week of community service to improve your area. This way everybody who wants is guaranteed the money and it motivates people to get out and do more while improving your area. If something is free then people have a lot less value for it.
I guy I've met in Berlin receives a UBI independent from any government institutions.
He is truly disconnected from the system and for him it roughly worked like this.
The first 2-3 months he just enjoyed the UBI, it was summer and he enjoyed the stress free situation of not having bureaucrats pressuring him to find a job.
Then fall kicked in, and he got bored. He turned his free time into a little business, this business soon employed him fulltime, and he hired a person to help him.
During the spring the both of them rented a space and made enough money to fund half a UBI for someone else. So 1 UBI turned into 3 UBI and 2 fulltime jobs. So on top of the UBI they earned a decent amount of money that made it worth all the trouble.
I don't know what the status is right now, this was 2010 somewhere. And I've not been in Berlin since.
The UBI turned out to have a lot of value.
On the other hand I have seen a UBI 'experiment' under government control. With a couple of 'additional rules'. Those additional rules just made things complicated and out of fear for bureaucratic reprimands the participants in that experiment heasitated to do what they wanted to do. They did not dare to start a small business due to the additional rules that made it more expensive then what they could afford to do.
And guess what. Bureaucracy made the experiment fail. And the media blew the failure out of proportion. Saying UBI is impossible!
So UBI CAN work, and UBI CAN fail. It depends on many things. But if the ruling class does NOT WANT succes, then they just add rules.
Control is where it fails, the ruling class fears to loose control. And that's where their rules come around the corner.
That's true, that governments don't fully commit to the idea yet..
But if you would like to join SBI win some shares here or have a look at our 'Sharing Saturday #2' from @alldutchcreation ;)
looking now!
I agree, on Steemit SBI is a good investment, but in real life UBI could create an entitled society.