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The idea of giving people free money is so radical, even some recipients think it's too good to be true.
Later this year, roughly 6,000 people in Kenya will receive regular monthly payments of about a dollar a day, no strings attached, as part of a policy experiment commonly known as basic income.
People will get to use the money for whatever they want: food, clothing, shelter, gambling, alcohol — anything — all in an effort to reduce poverty.
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But instead of accepting the cash transfers with open arms, many Kenyans have recently been saying "No, thank you." It's a legitimate concern: As GiveDirectly moves into its larger basic income experiment, the last thing it wants is for people to turn down the money.
Basic Income is a concept often mentioned on SN, and this is an experiment to do exactly that. Many potential recipients of the basic income are skeptical about the goals of the experiment, though, and rumors have arisen that it's tied to a cult or devil worship.
Opponents of such wealth transfers argue they lead to indolence, while another school of thought believes they would reduce poverty and directly produce economic stimulus because the poor would immediately spend the money.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Z-A,z-a,01234 on Monday September 12 2016, @08:21AM
Like most other people you are not aware of the mechanisms of money creation. Most people believe that there is a fixed amount or something and you need to get the money "back" somehow.
While this might have been true in the middle ages, it is no longer the case (maybe 200yrs already).
Money is created when a credit is given (government bonds are having the same meaning). Money is DESTROYED when the said credit is payed in full. There are publications from central banks that describe this stuff in detail. You might also understand why inflation is needed (hint to prevent the system from collapsing).
(Score: 2) by BK on Wednesday September 14 2016, @04:43PM
You'd be surprised what we are all aware of. But I'm not clear how your answer bears on the question.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 1) by Z-A,z-a,01234 on Friday September 16 2016, @09:47AM
You've said "What I have yet to hear is how a government might get that money in practice. Someone has to pay it in taxes. Who and how?"
By not understanding how money works, you assume that this is a 0-sum game. We pay X for BI so we need to tax X from somebody.
As a side note, BI would actually help the economy. People will spend most of that money (as opposed to today when you have hundreds of thousands of homeless and very poor guys hardly spending anything).