this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/1021018

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/upliftingnews by /u/DyeZaster on 2023-10-05 17:58:02.

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[–] [email protected] 231 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Every time I see an experiment like this it’s wildly successful and then never made into any kind of law or permanent social program.

[–] [email protected] 133 points 1 year ago (10 children)

Simply put, a lot of people hate socialism aka "I'm paying so you can get something for free". I'm all for it.

My 73 year old father supports Trump (not one of the crazy people, just misguided) and hates Biden. He said one of the biggest things that Biden did that pissed him off was student loan forgiveness because my dad said he had to work 3 jobs in the early 70s to put himself through college (which he dropped out of and went into the electrical trade), so everyone else should have to struggle like he did, regardless of the fact that college cost him like $2,000 a semester and it costs like $12-15 grand now, assuming you're not living on campus.

[–] [email protected] 145 points 1 year ago (38 children)

That’s such a sad argument. I heard a great counter to that line. Imagine we discovered a cure for cancer. This line of reasoning would say “well my mom suffered and died of cancer so why should others get a cure?”

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago

My mom’s ghost would slap me so hard if I said that

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It most certainly did not cost him $2000 per semester in the early 70s. It cost about $2000 for a full year at a private university. Around $500 if he went to a public school.

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_320.asp

And that's in 2007 money! $500 in 2007 converted to the early 70s is $90 to $100. Minimum wage was $1.60 per hour, so he would have to work 2 weeks at minimum wage to afford public school. 7 weeks for private school.

What a burden! He might have to give up part of his summer!

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (9 children)

The sad truth is current capitalism would ruin it.

If you have a whole city UBI then rent and prices would immediately inflate to siphon that away.

You'd need robust price laws beforehand, and that's unpopular. Otherwise it's just a tax-to-overlords pipeline

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Funny how capitalism seems to always stand in the way of doing anything objectively good. I guess the homeless will just have to hold on until we figure out how to do welfare in a capitalist economy.

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[–] [email protected] 111 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Similarly, Colorado had a program to give out free birth control and it reduced abortions by like 30%. But Republicans shut the program down because it isn't about saving babies, it's about controlling women.

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[–] [email protected] 73 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (14 children)

This is a fantastic article and incredibly interesting:

Last October, more than 800 people were enrolled in the basic-income plan, but they didn't all receive the same stipend. There are three groups: One receives $1,000 a month for a year; another receives $6,500 up front and then $500 a month from there; and another gets just $50 a month.

While cautioning that this was only an interim six-month follow-up for what is a yearlong program, the researchers nonetheless found stark and encouraging changes in participants' material conditions. Those who received $500 a month or more had seen the biggest gains. At the start, fewer than 10% said they were living in their own home or apartment, while at the six-month point, more than a third said they lived in their own housing.

Edit: The results make me think of all of these programs that are trying to get people out of homelessness should cut way back and just do a basic income with that money (with life help classes and guidance of course).

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Spend all the money that's spent trying to find welfare cheats (and cost more than they could possibly save anyway) on basic income instead.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (8 children)

I mean, let's not stop there. Our DOD could cut back, go after high income tax cheats and dodgers. There is a list for sure. FYI, Alaska has had Basic Income for awhile now. They call it something else and it fluctuates, but that's generally what it is.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 year ago (3 children)

CAN YOU IMAGINE? HAVING A BASIC INCOME CAUSED PEOPLE TO GET HOUSING?????

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Imagine that! Actually having money allowing homeless people to get a home and increase their chances of going out and actually getting a job so they can keep their quality of life up from being homeless!

Who could have ever guessed that people with homes are more likely to try and get jobs to keep their homes? /s

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

getting a job so they can keep their quality of life up from being homeless!

And paying taxes while having that job. So even from a cold hearted financial perspective, this might be one of the cheapest ways to deal with the problem

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i honestly just hate reading stuff like this; the study is always a glowing success but we never ever do anything with the results

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I swear there has been a big uptick on the other site of videos depicting and celebrating the brutalization of shoplifters.

I think people are increasingly inclined to just hate poor people.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago (40 children)

Yet anyone in a position of authority will still parrot giving ppl money will make them lazy

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (9 children)

This is not a UBI Universal Basic Income; this is a CBI Conditional Basic Income. The conditions are currently being selected and being homeless.

Also this program basically already exists. It is just TANF selected for homelessness instead low-income families with children.

Edit: Universal not Unconditional

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Great that it worked and all, but how are we supposed to punish the poor if we just give them money?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

Or use them as a political demon to rally our base?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Couple UBI with various social services made easily available--homelessness/poverty can be stricken a devastating blow. Western economies shouldn't even have the amount of poverty that they do. They're in a position to completely transform that if they wished.

There are so many countries, like the aforementioned United States, where astronomical government spending can be cut and used for tending to citizen health and stability. The billions upon billions upon billions of dollars spent on things that ultimately don't matter...

😤🤯😖😵

I read far too much fiction which builds hope in the kinds of society that we can become. But each time I close those books, I'm reminded of why reality hurts so much. If only those with power truly cared about what really matters. Life is so short and this is how we spend it. 😭

Ack!

No... I'll continue hoping. It's my nature. There are those few who keep trying. They press in. And historically, things are better for human kind. I just which I could have lived through the best of it.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is consistent with what they were finding up in Ontario with their basic income pilot before their leader decided - with zero evidence or consequences - to eliminate the program illegally against contract and ethics.

People stepping out of poverty and able to give back to the community.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Another study, another proposed policy we'll never see

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (12 children)

I'm glad they are getting that money (or were?), but the fucked up thing is knowing that's literally more than I get in a month working 30 hours a week of the hardest job I've had in 15 years. 🙃

I'm betting the two people who downvoted me would happily tell me to just get a better job. 😂

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

I wish you got that money too.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Turns out that when human beings give eachother a break, good things happen.

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