A review of the comprehensive UBI plan, and some of its potential shortcomings

What works well

I really enjoyed listing to this prevention on UBI. I think as far as the concept goes, this is one of the best examples ive seen where it is clearly well thought out through many variables. There are several main things that I think are key to this idea that were nailed by this theory: no future encumbrance of funds, an amendment, and a dividend structure. Although this isn’t the order they were presented in, this was the order I felt like was the most thought through part of it. To begin with, it was a great idea to not let loans be made against future payments. I feel like this is something that is so obvious, but that I wouldn’t have come up with on my own. If we didn’t have this we could end up in a situation similar to the concept of infinite banking via life insurance. Overall, by ensuring that you cant get the benefit today, it makes sure that it truly is a safety net and not a luxury. Second would be the solid plan to pay for it. I am always a fan of less government intervention so structuring this as an amendment would be a great way to limit power and make sure it wasn't altered in the future. This is especially apparent when it comes to the percent of GDP that the government can operate on. Finally, I liked how it was more of a dividend. Using the idea that a successful economy can provide a base for its less fortunate citizens is a reasonable idea. So by using a percent of GDP it ties it to how successful the economy is, and not just an arbitrary amount. These were the three aspects that I felt like helped make this idea viable. It proved that this wasn't just a way for people to take advantage of the system, but actually a fully developed theory for how to implement a UBI.

What could be improved

There were several parts of this plan that I had questions about. First id like to discuss how the governments budget cuts would play out. I think that there would be alot of backlash as well as some potential issues that would arise from such a drastic cut to the budget. The two largest would be the reduction in federal protective agencies, and the federal debt market. To begin with, although I prefer a smaller government in almost all circumstances, I do think there are some useful government agencies. If I were to chose some specifically it would be things like the FDA, and the SEC. I think that although possible to have an alternative built thought the free markets, I think that the time it takes to naturally occur would be to long to avoid harming individuals. For example, I think that if the FDA were abolished then companies that poisoned their customers would eventually go out of business, but it may take several years and many deaths before it took full effect. So I think that there are useful government agencies. However, my fear would be that with such a quick reduction in the budget, these agencies might get cut first since their effects are harder to immediately see. The next issue would revolve around the debt markets. The US currently has trillions of debt outstanding, so not only would these payments continue to need to be made, using up large portions of the allotted budget, but also, the us treasury bond plays a vital role in the capital markets. If the government couldn’t borrow, it would be eliminating the most trusted financial asset in the world, as well as upending the basis for many financial transactions. There are alternatives such as other counties bonds, but I think America would be at a disadvantage by going up the power to control the most valuable monetary tool it has. So perhaps there could be some revamping to this plan specifically in these regards to mitigate these risks

Conclusion and thoughts on effectiveness

Finally, I would like to disagree with the concept that these payments would provide complete freedom of movement, and life. I think the notion that we could lay off employees, or have educational communities is flawed. I think that at the amount that is stated, nine thousand dollars a year, only survival is possible. With an amount this small, I dont think you could freely live, or even pay for classes on top of just food and rent expense. I think that because this number is so low, you wouldn’t see many of the benefits come about. There is a potential that there would be to some degree, but overall, I think this is an excellent plan for a social safety net, and not a means to being able to go or do whatever one wants.