Ask Lemmy

Yes, but not in the way we envision it.

Wealth inequality will increase. Drastically. There will be a small group of people owning basically everything. But they still need cheap labor and subjects, plus someone needs to consume their products. Because jobs will be limited UBI will be implemented: as a baseline to keep us alive, not as a tool for general prosperity.

Watch "Elysium" how this bleak world may look. It's not a great movie, but has that "everyone but a few people is super fucked"-theme locked down.

Yes, but only because your question implies there is a future for humanity, and I believe UBI is realistically one of the few ways humanity even gets a future

It should but it won’t.

Nope it's not.

Look, most of the taxes are paid by the people, do you think the billionaires are gonna spare a dime? Where UBI is needed, there's most likely an entire population of working class that's not generating any tax revenue, and is a net negative for the government. And tax money isn't just meant to be distributed to the people, it's for also maintaining infrastructure and building new ones. You realise how much of burden would UBI be on the government? Do you think they can still maintain roads and fund libraries/universities if most of their treasury is being spent on paying people an income?

I don't think UBI is practical at all. Ground reality is, even governments have finite resources. We genuinely need better plans than just relying on UBI as solution.

UBI is 100% populist idea. It replaces targeted welfare directed at people who need it with universal one - which is a massive waste of money, and extremly unfair to the working class as it has to be financed with massive taxation.

Funny how Marxists love talking about working class being exploited just to nonchalantly drop UBI around.

IMO Universal Basic Income the second worst idea after so called "Modern Monetary Theory"

The rich have done everything they can to increase wealth inequality and brainwash the public into acceptance. That will not be reversed. If they allow UBI it will be below poverty levels and highly conditional.

The wealthy want slaves. Its a mental illness with them. Black people. Underage sex trafficking. Working poor. Robots. Last thing they want is a utopia where everyone is healthy, happy and financially independent.

One of the wealthiest countries in the world doesn't even have proper healthcare system in 2026. No way are those dumb fucks getting a UBI. Its a lie.

No because corps and oligarchs will campaign against it, inexplicably win, and destroy one of the country's greatest achievements with cheers and applause

Its cynical, but its happened to many social programs thay way.

Probably, unless we backslide into Dune-esque feudalism, destroy ourselves, or both.

What we have right now is "democracy and equality before the law, but also your wealth at birth determines your access to everything", and that seems more like a transition state, and less like a stable and self-perpetuating way of organising things. Plus, gen Z is eventually going to generate world leaders of it's own, and within that group, the basic idea of abolishing class is already really popular.

A different kind of program could do the same job of keeping people from falling off the bottom of the wealth spectrum. But, UBI is simple and thorough and beloved by policy wonks everywhere. It's not going to be whatever ill-defined USSR imitation thing Lemmy would prefer, anyway. (For a number of reasons, starting with it's just so ill-defined)

but given the layoffs happening and massive amount of unemployment

Since we're talking about the world, it's worth pointing out that's mainly the US. Canada has been doing fine (obviously things are going to be rockier ahead). The rest of the world is going to be a mixed bag, but at the very least Ukraine isn't going to have a shortage of empty positions.

UBI will only come as a response to a new economic depression. The idea that our society will proactively fix itself has been proven wrong time after time.

Humans only learn the hard way.

It should be. Also the NIT (Negative Income Tax) so the taxing scheme becomes progressive, rather than regressive. Though I know I'm asking too much because capitalism...

No, not without sacrificing a welfare program or something else.

Because it'll be a hard sell to have UBI on top of WIC, SNAP, SSI, Unemployment and other welfare. Something would have to go.

People would rather not have UBI. Give outs, without some effort, will just lead people to rot. People need the fulfillment that a good days work provides so maybe it'll be tagged to something, but if it is private -- such as your a peon, then we're just serfs of a fiefdom.

The "New Deal" that FDR enacted included work, public works projects, that got people to work; this granted them skills, which helped them enter into work for businesses. If you've ever been to a CCC project, like at some State/National Parks, then that's a demonstration of its effects. They did good work, though they did trample on indigenous nations. Of course, then we went to war in WW2, which brought home GIs ready to setup a life.

No. Once the people have the time and leisure to think and mingle they might find out who the real source of the problem is. So it's better to keep your slaves busy and struggling to keep the roof over their head and their belly not empty.

no lol.

have you ever met a rich person? like a real rich person? they're arrogant and snobby and think the rest of us have no right to exist. there's a reason there's this massive push to implement AI. part of it is to save money but the other part of it is that they legit think that we're all lesser and AI replacing call centers and fast food jobs will hasten our departure.

we'll all end up being thrown in a volcano before they implement UBI.

i'd say asia has more of a chance in the long run just because social responsibility is part of culture and that can often act as an antidote to the worst parts of capitalism. south korea can be gross but at least they throw their corrupt leaders in jail...

no chance of this happening in the states.

To be honest I'm not fan of UBI. I'm more fond of redistribution of work.

If there's less things to do due to automatization let's just all work less hours with full income.

The billionaires would have to fund it, and I don’t believe for a second they wouldn’t leave us all to starve.

When UBI starts being seriously considered on a large scale, you’ll likely see a massive influence campaign against it. Something along the lines of “If you give people free money, they’ll never get a job.” It will likely have racial undertones that range from subtle and implicit to wildly explicit, depending on the forum.

If low information working class people, those who would benefit the most from such a program, fall for that campaign, as they often do, you’ll see a backlash against it that could prevent it from becoming law.

It will never happen.

Not because it is a bad idea; it is an AWESOME idea. Work used to be something you do for the collectivity; you do something for the group, in exchange of something from the group. Today, a work is a mean to earn money, regardless of the collectivity. We do meaningless jobs, which often gives nothing to the collectivity, just because we have a rent to pay, we want vacations and a new car. A universal basic income would completely break this; I would work to bring something to the group, not to reach a stupid objective for the company.

However, there is a fringe of people which will not gain anything from this, even lose leverage and power over the masses: the 1%, the millionaires and billionaires. They will do whatever they can to kill it, saying only freeloaders and foreigners will benefits from it. And the masses will vote against it, and it will be a big victory for capitalism. Until global warming accelerate, we will have nothing to eat anymore and earth will be inhospitable for humans. The end.

I don't honestly think it will happen in a way that is genuinely good for people. It will happen in a way where the rich and powerful are in control and can use it as a method for maintaining control.