I see arguments against UBI, that it's just the ruling class trying to remain in power, that your landlord will just raise rent by that much. Couldn't the same arguments be used against raising min wage? See, here's my thing, I think UBI would just be the capitalists desperately putting the system on life support but why are leftists so against UBI but not against raising min wage? You're not a liberal, you know better that you can't vote for or against either one. If those in power conclude that's what they need to do they'll do it. It won't matter if you agree or disagree or who's in office. To me that seems like one of those societal contradictions like Mao talks about. Under fuedalism those in power were naturally the only ones with the power to change society, but they had no incentive to so they did what they could to remain in power as long as possible, but ironically the way they solved those contradictions either changed society or set the stage for societal change.

I just can't get worked up about UBI one way or the other, that's not a materialist way of viewing it. A materialist way of looking at it would be to figure out, is this going to be what the ruling class conclude to be the way they stay in power? If so, what effects will that have on society?

  • SolidaritySplodarity [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    UBI has its origins among (right) libertarian economists, probably better understood as embarrassed neoliberal economists, and their goals of destroying social services and social spending and replacing them with a cash payout.

    Instead of Medicaid, you get to buy insurance at "market rate".

    Instead of food stamps, where you can compare "amount for food" vs. food prices, it's now part of your total poverty budget.

    And on and on and on. It was meant to replace basically every social service, therefore privatizing them and obfuscating social spending into a single cash payment.

    You'll notice that Yang's plan doesn't even try to pretend otherwise, it forces recipients to stop taking various other benefits.

    A much better idea is universal basic services: you are guaranteed food, housing, healthcare, and so on. Then the focus is on the quality of those services and not a constant battle against inflation and profit margins.