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@ChrisMayLA6
I have no doubt there are some people getting benefits who shouldn't.
They are few and I never lose sleep over it.

What is important is that 100% of people who do need benefits receive them.

@leighms @ChrisMayLA6

Universal Basic Income for all.

Cheap and efficient to implement and it ensures that the safety net really works.

Any excess income (whether via earning or investments) would be repaid via taxation.

Unless I’m missing something, this would be fair, humane, and efficient and it would reduce the risks of harm through the pressures on mental health and malnutrition which would also save on the UK’s NHS.

Simples

@TCMuffin @leighms

I'm not saying I completely endorse this position, but: there might be an issue about incentives to work, innovate or take on less appealing tasks.... not to say this is an insurmountable problem, but neither would it be neligible

@ChrisMayLA6 @TCMuffin @leighms That's less of an issue in my view because I think there's a few myths there about how motivation really works, but also it shifts the emphasis onto employers to make more attractive places to work - like how the free market's supposed to work - and free workers from being a captive audience. How much longer would toxic cultures exist for if everyone has, excuse my English quoting The Gambler, "Fuck you money"?
https://youtu.be/XamC7-Pt8N0?si=7nAw83bzY4EMtbGw

@ChrisMayLA6 @TCMuffin @leighms Well, starting with innovation and risk taking, consider somewhere it's notoriously absent - the public sector. Why? It's all risk and no reward. But with UBI, there's *less* risk taking risks because you have the F You Money. And this feeds into incentive to work - work gives you more disposable income or Walking Around Money but also is more likely something you're doing because you want to, and so innovation or the desire to innovate is probably part of that.

@ChrisMayLA6 @TCMuffin @leighms And it's far from clear that people only want to work for the financial incentive. Yes we *have* to to survive, but that is *not* what defines employee motivation - salary is *not* a motivating factor, at least according to Herzberg. Yes, we're talking about more fulfilling kinds of roles rather than the menial. But UBI appears to be hand in hand with increasing automation in the zeitgeist.

https://www.businessballs.com/improving-workplace-performance/to-what-extent-is-money-a-motivator/

@freequaybuoy @TCMuffin @leighms

I should add that I like the idea of UBI, just having some difficulty trying to see how it copes with some aspect of economic organisation - these are not impossible issues to resolve but may not also be easily solved by just a basic UBI