What is UBI?
UBI is a fixed amount of money that is given to citizens on a regular basis. While not all economists agree on an exact definition for UBI, there is a general consensus on two major principles: Universality and Unconditionality.
This means that UBI would be paid to all citizens regardless of employment, physical/ mental health, marital status, income level ect. Unlike like current welfare programs in the United States, there is no socio-economic requirement to qualify for UBI. Welfare programs face much criticism for being ineffective in bringing people out of poverty. This is largely because of the fact that once a recipient begins to make above a certain amount of money, they lose assistance. Opponents of welfare argue this dis-incentivizes people from making more money or even finding a job. With welfare, there are also many people who fall through the cracks because they make slightly more than needed to qualify but are still struggling financially. Because of this, it's argued that UBI could help break the cycles of poverty that so many people are trapped in for generations more effectively than welfare. The reduction of poverty is connected to many other social benefits such as health and education outcomes. Moving to such a system would necessitate maintaining the incentives to hold a job. That's very easy to achieve: a UBI should be enough to keep a person afloat at a bare minimum, while also providing adequate incentives to work, save, and invest.
While political commentators often speak out against about universal basic income as a leftist idea, Alaska a conservative state has its own version of a UBI program. Alaska has been distributing a portion of its $66.3 billion Permanent Fund to each of its residents since 1982. Alaska contributes at least 25% of mineral royalties – money generated by the state's mining, oil, and gas reserves — to the fund each year. The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation invests the funds in local and international stocks, bonds, and private equity.
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