kootenayguy

If UBI replaces other social welfare programs (as it is less expensive), what happens when an UBI recipient blows all their money on day one of the month? With the social welfare programs (social assistance, disability payments, unemployment insurance, etc) gone in favour of UBI, won’t someone who ‘loses’ their UBI to a drug habit just be out of luck? As a society, do we just watch that person die on the street because ‘we gave them money, and they wasted it’?

Maintaining the services - absolutely. The question was more around the cash payments that were part of those services. Presumably the UBI would replace the cash payments (welfare, for example). The models I’ve heard about (in Canada) were based on the notion that the UBI would be funded by no longer paying out the cash component of those social services.

I’d be worried that we’d quickly end up with an expensive UBI, along with an expensive social welfare payment system, effectively doubling our current spending. (Maybe there would be other benefits that could offset the expense, but I’m sceptical).

If we had a UBI that replaced those social welfare payments, I’m all for it. But it requires a hard-edged stance on people who ‘misuse’ their UBI. I’m not optimistic governments would be willing to take that hard-edged approach.