
Universal Basic Income and cost of things - senko
https://medium.com/@senkorasic/universal-basic-income-and-cost-of-things-a4ab82fa8385
======
senior_james
"However, all it takes is one savvy baker to recognize he or she could raise
the prices just a little lower than everyone else, enough for people to start
preferring their shop instead of the competition."

This doesn't take the free market into account. The reason the baker is forced
to raise their prices is because when everyone is getting the same amount of
money, they will be unwilling to work for a wage that is lower than it.

So, in addition to the employees at the bakery now requiring a higher wage,
all of the people along the supply chain of the baked goods (eggs, milk,
flour, etc) will also see a boost in pay (and the costs will be pushed down to
the chain until it reaches the consumer).

If the baker doesn't increase prices, they will quickly go out of business.

"Which is the exact same price point as before[0], and doesn’t depend on the
purchasing power of the consumers (that is, it’s not tied to how much money
people have)"

Another problem is that UBI is coming directly out of the pockets of those
same bakery owners. The boost in taxes will just mean another boost in
consumer prices.

"Since it is not in the universities’ interest to increase number of students,
increasing the money supply for the prospective students with student loans
meant that students were now able to pay more for the same thing and that
universities could simply increase the tuition fee[1]. Increasing the money
supply to students via UBI would have the same effect."

Universities are basically getting welfare. The cash goes directly from the
government to the university. They don't really care how the student actually
pays it back and also know that it can't be declared in a bankruptcy.

The result is ridiculous prices, universities getting rich, and students being
in debt for decades. It would be better to take student loans out of the
equation completely. We would have a more even playing field because
universities wouldn't be able to charge those ridiculous prices and be forced
to lower tuition costs. They also wouldn't be getting a guaranteed income
stream and would have to work much harder to keep students.

We have the same problem with healthcare. Because insurance companies are
paying the costs directly, the hospitals can charge $150 for a bottle of
Aspirin and the patient only sees the cost after it was covered.

If you take insurance companies out, costs will go way down because hospitals
will actually have to charge the real free market rates instead of the
controlled market we have now.

Government controlled markets, while sounds great in theory, usually means the
consumer suffers.

