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$750 a month was given to homeless people in California. What they spent it on is more evidence that universal basic income works. (www.businessinsider.com)

submitted 11 months ago by Espiritdescali to c/futurology

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[–] SupraMario@lemmy.world -4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Income doesn't necessarily mean cash though. I'm not saying don't have it part of the package, but the basics need to be met. Like food/water/electric/shelter. The rest they have to figure out.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

It does mean cash. Its more efficient to let individuals turn cash into quality of life, than just providing services.

One of the main bits with UBI is that government is very slow to adapt to changing requirements. By mandating what people get, it leads to a lot of inefficiency. A more extreme example is the planned economy of the USSR. It just didn't work well.

UBI lets the people involved decide what is more effective for them. E.g. 1 person might decide that turning the heating up is good. Another might invest in merino wool underlayers, since they tend to work outside.

An understated point though is that the basics should be easily attainable. Then again, that's a basic measure of a society, even if multiple countries, that should be able to do better, are failing at it.