I was trying to see how they set it up, but couldn't really tell. Do they just give out a check each month and say "Here you go, have fun!".
I could see a *ton* of opportunities for it, but it would take a total reprogramming of how we approach things and get over any labeling.
Think of a compilation of skills, services, and production that could be setup as a training experience. These schools and services are paid out of a federal credit bank that each person on the income program had an account through. The federal program reimbursed the schools/businesses/ect for services or products provided and it was debited from the individuals "credit" on their account.
1) States could setup agriculture schools and acreages to grow crops. Crops would be used to create weekly shares that could be "purchased". The experience of farming would be part of the education for the students working there. In turn people would have access to locally grown, fresh produce 8-16 weeks a year. Same could be done for things like eggs and meat.
2) Same concept, except for skilled trades. Electricians, plumbers, masons, carpenters, ect would be enrolled in trade schools and as part of their experience they could do appropriate level work for experience. The schools would be reimbursed via the credit system.
3) Utility companies would be part of the service and you could pay your water or electric bill through it.
4) Basic health care like prompt care, basic preventative dental hygiene, and inexpensive prescription meds could be provided through state education schools that had medical schools for those practices. You'd just have them bill your income account for the services.
5) You could also set it up so that things like monthly rent or mortgages could be paid through it.
I wouldn't treat it so much as "basic" income, but rather a somewhat regulated account that could be used for core services and take some burden off of households. It has room to provide an extended training program to skilled and professional trades and possibly stimulate jobs through that. It would be sort of a hybrid economy where some basic things could be provided through local government approved services while still allowing private industry for anything above and beyond.
That's a very basic outline of how I would handle it. It's certainly not perfect and has room for abuse. But so does pretty much anything. I think we need to be looking out for ways to provide people meaningful training for occupations while also offering some way to make the "basics" more affordable without influxing so much "easy" money that you run into inflation of basic goods and services.
Facebook
Twitter