The thing that keeps it from working is the cost. None of these experiments test the U in UBI.
Giving even a measly $10k in UBI to every US (for example) citizen of working age would cost over $2 trillion annually.
The sum of all welfare spending last year was $1 trillion. So, the common argument that cutting other programs to replace it with UBI holds no water–cutting all of it only gets you halfway to a paltry sum that’s far below the poverty line, and the whole reason we’re talking about UBI to begin with is because people don’t feel that those programs do enough to help the impoverished.
What about military spending? The sum of all defense spending last year was $800 billion. Cutting 100% of it (which would be objectively stupid for reasons I hope wouldn’t need explaining) won’t get you there either.
What about taking the billionaires’ wealth? The total estimated net worth of all US billionaires is $5.2 trillion. Even if you could wave a magic wand and convert all of this “net worth” 1:1 into cash, that still funds this shitty tiny hypothetical $10k UBI for less than 3 years.
We are simply not in a state where true UBI is even close to financially viable.
The thing that keeps it from working is the cost. None of these experiments test the U in UBI.
Giving even a measly $10k in UBI to every US (for example) citizen of working age would cost over $2 trillion annually.
The sum of all welfare spending last year was $1 trillion. So, the common argument that cutting other programs to replace it with UBI holds no water–cutting all of it only gets you halfway to a paltry sum that’s far below the poverty line, and the whole reason we’re talking about UBI to begin with is because people don’t feel that those programs do enough to help the impoverished.
What about military spending? The sum of all defense spending last year was $800 billion. Cutting 100% of it (which would be objectively stupid for reasons I hope wouldn’t need explaining) won’t get you there either.
What about taking the billionaires’ wealth? The total estimated net worth of all US billionaires is $5.2 trillion. Even if you could wave a magic wand and convert all of this “net worth” 1:1 into cash, that still funds this shitty tiny hypothetical $10k UBI for less than 3 years.
We are simply not in a state where true UBI is even close to financially viable.