The premise of Basic Income is that money will go directly to the needy, and won't be wasted in bureaucracy, etc. But I'm not sure how it'll work practically.
I live in SF. Every day I see dozens of homeless people, camped out on the sidewalks or under overpasses, panhandling.
So suppose you introduce BI into this. Let's say every homeless person in SF gets $1500/month (or pick a number). The homeless person, say, decides to blow it all on hookers and blow, and is out that money in 2 days. Now what happens to him? He's still on the streets. Who will take care of him? Who will pay for his emergency room visits? Who will clean up after he takes a dump on the street? Who will provide him with food and clothes?
Please don't get me wrong: I'm all for some magic wand which removes poverty, even if it means more taxes for me. But I don't know how BI will work in practice.
I live in SF. Every day I see dozens of homeless people, camped out on the sidewalks or under overpasses, panhandling.
So suppose you introduce BI into this. Let's say every homeless person in SF gets $1500/month (or pick a number). The homeless person, say, decides to blow it all on hookers and blow, and is out that money in 2 days. Now what happens to him? He's still on the streets. Who will take care of him? Who will pay for his emergency room visits? Who will clean up after he takes a dump on the street? Who will provide him with food and clothes?
Please don't get me wrong: I'm all for some magic wand which removes poverty, even if it means more taxes for me. But I don't know how BI will work in practice.