this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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By definition it would be a great solution. It everyone were guaranteed an actually sufficient to sustain a dignified existence and could be trusted to continue as such in perpetuity it would be, it would function as a bottomless strike fund and defang the threat of unemployment. Anything short of that though and the whole thing collapses, and that definition does a lot of heavy lifting.
To be universal there must be no group of people excluded from receiving it (or who can be threatened with such), not immigrants, not foreigners living overseas. Dependent children would be a complication but probably a solvable one.
To be 'basic' it must actually be sufficient to cover the necessities of living in comfort and dignity. In the first place this requires either that the UBI be indexed to cost of living somehow or that price controls be imposed on housing and enough foods etc. Additional welfare would still be needed for those with assisted living needs. What qualifies as sufficient for this purpose is especially important, or you end up with masses of subsidy-farming packaged micro apartments that cost 95% of the UBI and trap people in poverty.