Sorry. You’re right, I didn’t make much of an argument.
So you’re proposing socialism. Having the government provide all the services that people might spend their universal basic income on; free college, free healthcare and I’m sure a lot of other free stuff.
I’ve lived in 7 different countries and seen the effects of socialism, it just doesn’t work. Socialism has been tried 66 times in past century and it’s always a disaster. In theory socialism doesn’t work because the government doesn’t have an incentive to provide a high quality of services. Capitalism creates an environment where everyone is looking to find value to society. Socialism creates an environment where everyone is trying to cheat the system. Socialism is a non-voluntary interaction where you’re forced to pay for awful services.
And in practice socialism is always a disaster, it has such a bad track record that it’s just not worth trying. Go to a country where people lived through socialism talk to people that actually had to deal with it and they all hate it.
I’m amazed that still have to explain to people why socialism is a bad idea. It’s like explaining why slavery or rape is a bad idea. Anybody who has studied history a little or understands human nature can see why it doesn’t work.
UBI is debatably better than socialism because people are voluntarily spending “their money” on the things that they want and need.
I did a a very thorough article debunking UBI and socialism making rational arguments, presenting evidence and data and discussing some better options for dealing with technological unemployment.
