At Reason, mind you, Reason Jesse Walker traces the idea of a universal basic income not just back to Huey Long but all the way back 250 years to Tom Paine, claiming that a UBI may be the only policy on which Tom Paine, Huey Long, Milton Friedman, Timothy Leary, and Sam Altman could agree. In my view a UBI satisfies everything an income provides except the most basic: independence, a strengthening of non-state institutions, and providing meaning for one’s life.
If you think the mortality rate due to opioid abuse today is appalling, implement a UBI and you’ll learn what appalling is.
…Independence, a strengthening of non-state institutions, and providing meaning for one’s life………
Indeed, but given the inevitable politically motivated creep in eligibility standards that occurs, convergence of a “safety net” and UBI certainly blurs the distinction. I’m not sure how much meaning in life there is when multiple generations of people claim to “work” for AFDC.