Kayla McGrady

Universal Basic Income doesn't subsidize any one activity. It subsidizes ALL possible activities, which doesn't create an incentive for any one activity. This is in contrast to a program like unemployment income, which subsidizes unemployment. Remaining unemployed is the condition to get and keep getting an unemployment check. UBI has no such condition. With unemployment income, you can get $1k and if a job offers you $1k, you'll lose the $1k and end up with $1k. That's equivalent to a 100% marginal tax rate or working the job for no pay. Where is the incentive to take a job if you don't increase your income because of working, unless it's work you really love? With welfare benefits in general, you must have a low income and keep it low to keep getting it. That discourages recipients from increasing their income. With UBI, you can get $1k and if a job offers you $1k, end up with $2k. That doubles your income. That is a good incentive to take a job to double your income. Unlike welfare, UBI does not punish work. With UBI, everyone getting a paycheck has more total income than anyone with only UBI, because their paychecks are additional instead of either/or. Do you understand the difference now between welfare and UBI and how UBI does not create an incentive to not work as welfare does? Does it make sense now why pilot after pilot shows that employment INCREASES among those who receive UBI? UBI makes work actually pay. UBI also supports all unpaid work and boosts the incomes of those doing underpaid work. So, will UBI make people lazy? Of course not. Now stop being so lazy and go learn about all the results of UBI experiments. Go through my 100-tweet pinned thread.

An artist in Ireland's basic income pilot: "This pilot has changed my career. It came at a point where I was beginning to seriously question the sustainability of being an artist in Ireland. It has allowed me to think more ambitiously, to plan better, take more artistic risks."

If basic income were a right, imagine what you'd do with your life? Write that novel you've always wanted to. Pursue that passion project on the back burner. The possibilities are endless. We need to start realizing that our worth extends far beyond our job titles.

I've been researching the idea of Unconditional Basic Income since 2013. Here's a list of findings I've compiled from various UBI experiments, unconditional cash transfer studies, and cash dividend research. The data speaks for itself. Data: reddit.com/r/BasicIncome/wik… #basicincome