[ExI] Universal basic capital was Re: Universal basic income

Adrian Tymes atymes at gmail.com
Wed Jan 18 05:39:57 UTC 2017


I don't see that much to make UBC not merely a specific form of UBI.
It's UBI derived from return on investment, and the recipient would
have a choice between several different forms (perhaps with different
rates), but fundamentally it's still "everyone gets an income without
working", which is the core of UBI.

But I do see one possible problem.

On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 4:58 PM, Rafal Smigrodzki
<rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com> wrote:
> In order to prevent the stupids from blowing their
> inheritance the UBC would be inalienable except by a last will and
> testament. The income stream from one's UBC would be under the individual's
> control, allowing choices between immediate consumption and further
> investment to increase the size of your endowment.

What about those who, for whatever reason (poor choices, poor luck, or
whatever), consume but do not further invest?  They wind up right back
in the current problem: they have no income, no way to pay for food
and other necessities of life.

Or is consumption beyond certain limits simply forbidden?  Is it
flat-out illegal to sell your UBC to "invest" in what has been proven
beyond reasonable doubt to be fraud which will not actually give you
any return no matter what the fraudsters claim?  (This is not
hyperbole.  Ask any cop who's investigated any even mildly successful
ponzi or pyramid scheme, how convinced the low-level dupes were.)

What then do you do, when the fraudsters flat-out buy political
influence and attempt to have the laws against this overturned?
(Again, not hyperbole: this kind of thing forms much of the "swamp"
Trump swore to drain.  Notice however his Cabinet picks - which are
actions taken as President-elect even if he isn't inaugurated yet -
and how many of them are poised to further enable fraud.)



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