
Basic Income Observations Log: Entry One - joeyespo
http://www.scottsantens.com/basic-income-observations-log-entry-one-security
======
shostack
Really interesting read and congrats on your first post with this.

Your point about security is a really important one. At the end of the day, if
you do something that pisses people off, or even if others just decide they
have better uses for that money, you lose your funding. So there is still some
sort of string attached whereas there in theory would not be one (or a
different type of one) with a government program.

You may have posted this elsewhere, but I'd love to get some background on
where you live, what your expenses/cost of living are like, etc.

If the government rolled out a basic income program in the US, I'd honestly
consider looking at where I might be able to buy a house such that the basic
income would cover a substantial portion of the mortage/taxes. Probably
somewhere less desirable in fly-over country, but being essentially a step
closer to retirement like that could pay off huge in the long run. In fact,
with the more mobile lifestyle we're seeing people have these days, I could
see that being a viable path for young people who aren't established yet and
are looking to figure out their path in life.

In terms of budgeting, has this added security caused your expenses to grow to
account for the new funds? Or are you working hard to keep expenses the same?
The interesting thing is that with your experiment, you aren't really impacted
in the same way as you would be if EVERYONE suddenly had this, because there's
a reasonable expectation that market prices for everything would rise to
consume the new income.

