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posted by
martyb
on Thursday June 02 2016, @08:52AM
from the What-would-YOU-do-with-a-basic-income? dept.
from the What-would-YOU-do-with-a-basic-income? dept.
The highly-anticipated experiment with basic income from Silicon Valley finance firm Y Combinator appears to be making good progress. The company has chosen Elizabeth Rhodes as the project's Research Director, opting for the little-known PHD graduate over applications from tenured professors working at Oxford and Harvard universities. Oakland, California is where the basic income research will happen: the community has been chosen for its close proximity to Y Combinator's head office, and the much-reported wealth divide in the locality.
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The Basic Income Experiment by Y Combinator Draws Nearer
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(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 02 2016, @05:35PM
Because they are demand-side economists. If you are at the level where the basic income is a real boon, then it is because you will spend it. That increase of demand will mean more people buy things and the rich make more money through that. Plus, money beyond necessities will likely be spent on their toys. It has the added benefit of looking altruistic because people at the bottom will be able to live off the money.
However, most of that assumes people are not in massive debt. This is because people have the nasty habit of paying down their debts, rather than use the money in more disposable wants.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Friday June 03 2016, @08:44AM
They can also see that will offshoring, less and less manufacturing, basically a much smaller middle class [helpfully shifted to the 'poor' class], they really won't have very many people to sell to. So, they figure the best thing is to keep doing all that stuff [make more and more people poor and fewer and fewer people middle class and/or rich], the gov't should just print more money to give to the poor, who will promptly give it to the rich in order to survive.