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Some people are being given thousands of dollars with no strings attached in universal basic income trials. They mostly spend the cash wisely. (www.businessinsider.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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[–] 8 points 2 years ago (11 children)

That's not true. There is a wise spending. Or to be more correct there is a foolish spending. Gambling your money away for example is f* stupid.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    The point is that the government really shouldn't have any say in which is which. I agree with you that gambling all your money away is a poor financial choice, but that doesn't mean that I think we should ban gambling, because many people enjoy it responsibly. Teaching people financial literacy, and treating addictions is the solution, not policing how people use their UBI.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    but that doesn't mean that I think we should ban gambling, because many people enjoy it responsibly

    More like because it’s an adult human’s right to be free. That is the point. Responsibly, irresponsibly, these are secondary concepts.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    If it's government given money, that's somebody's tax dollars and the government absolutely should have a say, because the people giving that money should have a say.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    If it's government given money, that's somebody's tax dollars and the government absolutely should have a say,

    The issue is it costs money for the Government to have a say and 99% of the time it's not needed.

    If you just get rid of the Government overhead to make sure people are "spending it wisely," the money lost by the 1% who spend it foolishly will be far less than the money saved by getting rid of all the administration.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Why attack the people for their spending on vices when you could just outlaw the vices. If you care so much about people's morals, then the government should just outlaw alcohol, gambling and anything else deemed an ill use of this money. It's the exact same thing, except you only want the government to police people who you think don't deserve freedom because you consider them lesser.

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  • [–] -2 points 2 years ago

    When you take someone else's money, you should have a good reason for doing so. Money is an exchange of labor, straight up. You're not entitled to anyone else's labor without qualification.

    Social benefit programs are just that, programs for the social benefit.

    People are allowed to have vices, but irresponsibly spending other people's money is not okay, just like breaking/trashing other people's stuff (and thus spending their time and money) is not okay.

    This is a basic part of the social contract.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    now let's say you heavily tax gambling at a state level. Suddenly you get more tax kickback from that UBI even though nothing particularly effective was done with it.

    I mean, theoretically, gambling itself, as a tax revenue source is actually pretty good. It's money going to a good cause, even though technically wasted.

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