Should the USA implement a UBI, here is why and why not.
For a school project, I had to write two essays about why a Universal Basic Income, (UBI), is great and terrible. Writing both sides of the argument made me wonder, which one do most people agree with? Here are small excerpts from my essay to help you choose.
A Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a policy that would provide a basic income to every citizen of age, regardless of their employment status. This would provide a safety net for those in financial debt and potentially save millions of people in poverty in the USA. UBI could also eliminate poverty in the States and eventually the world. The national rate of poverty, according to the United States Census Bureau, was 12.8% as of 2021. This roughly equates to 42.5 million people. UBI would potentially save millions of people and help them reach financial stability. These individuals that are struggling to keep up with their basic needs would be able to provide for their families and potentially lift them out of poverty. They could use this to help them get a good education, start a business or move on in life in many other ways.
Critics may argue that UBI would make people complacent, however, the Nation of Finland recently experimented with UBI and found that it actually increases people’s desire to work harder and improve their lives. Seven percent more people with UBI were mental health problem-free compared to people who didn’t have it. People with the UBI registered 3 to 9% more working days than people without it. Even physical health and trust increased in people with UBI versus people without it. Additionally, UBI can replace current social welfare programs, which would save money in the long run and stimulate the economy.
While there are 7 major social welfare programs that the Federal government runs, there are a total of 83 programs when including some of the niche programs that are also run. These programs cause a ton of confusion and are all Fbeing funded with tax money and other ways that could easily be repurposed for UBI. In fact, UBI should be able to replace most of these programs as it would make people work harder and have less need for those niche programs.
Overall, UBI has the potential to improve the physical and mental health of individuals and reduce poverty and crime, making it a cost-effective solution for the government to implement. A progressive tax on income would be one of the easiest and most straightforward mechanisms to fund UBI. The government could even implement a tax on things like carbon or financial transactions that are currently hurting climate change and are creating more financial instability. Furthermore, the social benefit of this improvement alone may make the argument for UBI a no-brainer. However, let’s see what’s on the other side of the argument.
Universal basic income (UBI) is a policy that would give every adult citizen in the United States a certain amount of money, regardless of their employment and financial status. However, there are several issues with implementing a UBI. First, it is hard to fund. A UBI that gives every American adult $1,000 a month or $12,000 a year would cost $3.1 trillion dollars per year, which is about 90% of all the money the federal government collected via tax revenue in 2020. Taxing people more is not a viable option either, as it would lead to hyperinflation.
Additionally, UBI is hard to administer. Adding a UBI to the current social welfare system would create additional bureaucracy and require a separate system to distribute the money. This would take a lot of work and effort, and there would be a risk of people exploiting the system or finding loopholes. Furthermore, UBI may not be the best solution for struggling people, as it would be difficult to distribute the funds fairly.
Finally, UBI may lead to laziness and a lack of motivation for people to work hard. If people start to become lazy and work less, it would hurt the economy. Employers may feel less of a need to provide a good wage if the employee is already getting paid by UBI, which would lead to wages dropping. Additionally, people may leave their jobs and try to fully survive on UBI, which would worsen the situation. Overall, while UBI may seem like a good idea on the surface, there are many issues that need to be considered before implementing such a policy.
After reading these two articles do you think the USA should implement a UBI or not? I think that it is still too early and all the kinks in UBI have not been figured out. You guys can vote by clicking on the link below.
What do you think? Should the USA implement a UBI?
https://take.supersurvey.com/poll4677799xAA2D48bB-146
Original Essays: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VSO0qZkM63vN1nM8nADQyzwIXZ6Ta6sBB6uk9dpW1Uk/edit?usp=sharing
