"In switching over to a
universal basic income, the books will not only stay balanced—they might
even move into the black. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there
are 115,227,000 households in the U.S. Split $1.88 trillion among all
these households and each one gets $16,315.62. In other words, if you
turned the welfare system into a $15,000 basic income payment, you’d end
up saving over $150 billion (or $1,315.62 per American household).
The
basic proposal can be tweaked, of course, so that the system makes a
bit more sense. Households making over $100,000 per year probably get by
just fine on their own. Cut them out of the equation, and you would end
up with a $20,000 basic income check for the remaining households,
while still netting the government some nice savings.
Despite
the pleasingly round back-of-the-napkin math, replacing food stamps and
other artifacts of America’s welfare system with no-strings-attached
cash isn’t that easy. There’s the small matter, for example, of
stitching together all of the patchwork social program
providers—federal, state and local governments—and getting them to agree
to all put in to one kitty. It’s also controversial. Pascal-Emmanuel
Gobry, a columnist for The Week, worries that if we gave everyone basic
incomes to cover their necessities, it might encourage a mass exodus
from the workforce as people no longer 'need” to work to survive.'"I think this could work. So long as all other subsidies are rolled into this idea.
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