UBI support Poll

[Belacqua]

That's a worry. And perhaps a fatal flaw. 

Though the basic idea is simple, it would have to be implemented in a careful way, and I don't know what all would be necessary to make it work. 

Perhaps limit it to those who legally attain citizenship.

But there's no question that in any big program like this, there's going to be cheats, and addicts and others who make poor use of it. The question is whether the number of such undesirables is sufficient to outweigh the benefits to the rest of us.

“Perhaps limit it to those who legally attain citizenship.“

So the US for example, the legal homeless will now be able to afford to purchase a house or pay rent and the people allowed in the country and aren’t citizens will take the homeless place?

Or they can work at what would be considered a slave rate?

Just trying to understand the logic

I don't know of any serious suggestions in the US so far that would answer the kind of policy questions you're asking me here. I don't know how far a possible US system would go, if one could even get off the ground. 

The theory is just that a guaranteed monthly payment, even if it's just money for utilities, provides some level of security and takes financial stress off of people. The hope is that they then have the personal wherewithal to live better -- whether this is more time for homework (instead of part-time work at McDonald's) or time to take care of themselves and not get sick. It's often been suggested that this is more efficient than welfare, and has downstream benefits in improving mental health, reduced crime, etc. 

You can read about various pilot programs so far, and a little bit about the results:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_...ome_pilots

I've read that when Covid started and government made one-time stimulus payments to people it had quite a positive effect on many lives. More than you might expect for the relatively small size of the payment. It keeps the economy moving and takes the edge off for people otherwise hurting.