Metrodomination

[El_Machinae]

When you hand poor Americans free government cash on a one time basis, the money goes to food, cigarettes, alcohol, car payments, gasoline and gadgets.

It's not 100% true, but it's not a bad place to start the discussion. In the end, we want those dollars either freeing people from poverty or increasing productivity. Using those dollars to buy off a debt or to buy food isn't a bad use of the money. Obviously things like "trip to the dentist", or other wealth-creating activities are good too.

 

[Birdjaguar]

It's not 100% true, but it's not a bad place to start the discussion. In the end, we want those dollars either freeing people from poverty or increasing productivity. Using those dollars to buy off a debt or to buy food isn't a bad use of the money. Obviously things like "trip to the dentist", or other wealth-creating activities are good too.

As i said earlier, there are three ways to get people out of poverty: get them a job that pays enough to make giving up welfare (and its companion programs). Typically that is 200% of the poverty guideline wage. Or they can combine households through marriage or living arrangements. and lastly, you can give them a UBI that more than sustains them. Sporadic one time payments only fill short term gaps in their misery.

I don't see how UBI will improve productivity unless you can direct its use towards specific industries where growth will encourage productivity in them. Seems like a stretch to me.