
Ask HN: A variant approach on Basic Income - Pamar
Basic Income is a hotly debated issue, especially on HN (I understand that YCombinator are doing their own experiments there) so I would like to discuss a variant that (as far as I know) has not been discussed by anyone yet.<p>(feel free to provide links or other pointers to places where this has been already discussed, if available).<p>The idea came to me while reading the story about Borderlands [1]: one of the commenters explained that Minimum Wage might be ok for a single person but will make it hard for them to provide for any dependants.<p>So here is my proposal: what if Basic Income was provided <i>only</i> for people below a certain age, say from day 1 to their 18th Birthday?
Alternative: should we also provide it for people <i>above</i> a certain age? Like 65 or 70?<p>Would this be more sustenable in terms of how to finance it? What type of effect could we expect on society, internal demand, job market, demographics?<p>[1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=14344060
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onion2k
_one of the commenters explained that Minimum Wage might be ok for a single
person but will make it hard for them to provide for any dependants._

The point of Universal Basic income is that it's _universal_. Everyone gets
it, including children (although maybe not the same amount as adults). There's
no reason why someone should find it hard to provide for their dependents -
the universal basic income is providing for them.

~~~
Pamar
I am aware of that, but I am also a bit concerned about the financial
sustainability of the "normal" UBI and also, to be honest, a bit concerned
about two things:

\- when discussing UBI many comments hint at completely replacing any kind of
welfare with it (I am European so my concept of Welfare is a bit different
from the prevalent US view on the topic) \- I have a (maybe irrational)
opinion about work being something most people will need to have some sort of
focus in their life, so I am a bit torn about BUI as something that would just
allow people to live (albeit modestly) without any kind of extra work during
their productive years.

~~~
onion2k
_something that would just allow people to live (albeit modestly) without any
kind of extra work during their productive years._

You see it as "allowing" them to do that. I see it as "enabling" them to do
that.

As a race, we've spent tens of thousands of years having to toil practically
every day, doing arduous work just to eat, and now we're at a point where
perhaps we don't actually need to do that any more. We could have members of
society _choosing_ whether they work or not, or just to do things they enjoy,
or even just to sit around doing _nothing_ all day. That's amazing. That's
exactly the society I want to be a part of.

Frankly, if someone chooses to do nothing with their life it has no impact on
you, so why do you care?

~~~
Pamar
I admitted already that my own preference could be irrational, and I am not
trying to impose my own viewpoint on the matter.

Regarding "why I think work is a very important element of our own lives", see
my own submission on HN from a few months ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8280379](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8280379)

