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300 points pseudolus | 6 comments | | HN request time: 0.238s | source | bottom
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BrenBarn ◴[] No.44410806[source]
> I heard one answer more than any other: the government should introduce universal basic income. This would indeed afford artists the security to create art, but it’s also extremely fanciful.

Until we start viewing "fanciful" ideas as realistic, our problems will persist. This article is another in the long series of observations of seemingly distinct problems which are actually facets of a larger problem, namely that overall economic inequality is way too high. It's not just that musicians, or actors, or grocery store baggers, or taxi drivers, or whatever, can't make a living, it's that the set of things you can do to make a living is narrowing more and more. Broad-based solutions like basic income, wealth taxes, breaking up large market players, etc., will do far more for us than attempting piecemeal tweaks to this or that industry.

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HPsquared ◴[] No.44411793[source]
UBI would introduce massive inequality between those who work and those who don't. Much tension would arise.
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trueismywork ◴[] No.44411827[source]
How would it increase inequality?
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1. gosub100 ◴[] No.44413404[source]
those who choos 40hr work weeks have similar earnings and quality of life as someone who sits at home all day on UBI.
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2. jenniferCrawdad ◴[] No.44413960[source]
Why do you think the word "universal" is in the phrase "universal basic income"?
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3. sensanaty ◴[] No.44414240[source]
No? Everyone would get the same amount, and then the people working 40h would get more than the people not doing anything.
4. orangecat ◴[] No.44415199[source]
Absolutely not. Our current system is closer to that because you lose benefits as your income increases, to the point where in some case it's possible to get a raise and end up worse off. With UBI (assuming it replaces most means-tested benefits), you're always better off earning more.
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6. gosub100 ◴[] No.44415227[source]
then it will never happen, of course. keep fantasizing