[Peace-discuss] Another "Be careful what you wish for"

[C G Estabrook]

[1] It has been clear at least since Keynes that the source of modern economic woes is excess capacity and inadequate demand. A UBI obviously increases demand.

[2] For Christians (and others) “the gospel takes away our right forever, to discriminate between the deserving and the undeserving poor” (attr. Dorothy Day).

—CGE

> On Feb 13, 2018, at 6:47 PM, David Green via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
> A UBI might well incentivize both workers and employers to move more quickly to more productive robots without fear of unchosen unemployment or hyper-inflation. And there's no reason why the UBI, in an environment of moderate inflation, can't maintain its value.
> 
> On ‎Tuesday‎, ‎February‎ ‎13‎, ‎2018‎ ‎03‎:‎05‎:‎03‎ ‎PM‎ ‎CST, C G Estabrook via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> 
> I’m willing to take that chance.
> 
> If you give the starving food, they might overeat, so you shouldn’t?
> 
> > On Feb 13, 2018, at 2:39 PM, Szoke, Ron via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
> > 
> > This is what concerns me about proposals for a guaranteed Universal Basic Income (UBI), which sounds like something I would in principle support:  ~~ Ron
> > 
> > (( Looking specifically at the question of whether Friedman’s proposal would actually improve the conditions of the poor, Hyman A. Minsky, himself a renowned and highly regarded economist, wrote the “The Macroeconomics of a Negative Income Tax.” Minsky looks at the outcome of a “social dividend,” which “transfers to every person alive, rich or poor, working or unemployed, young or old, a designated money income by right.” Minsky conclusively shows that such a program would “be inflationary even if budgets are balanced” and that the “rise in prices will erode the real value of benefits to the poor … and may impose unintended real costs upon families with modest incomes.”  This means that any improved spending power afforded to citizens through an instrument such as UBI will be completely absorbed by higher prices for necessities.  ))
> > 
> > 
> >