Universal Basic Income

[DFW]

90. If my wife's experience as a social worker is any indication

UBI will help some and others not at all. Germany has no UBI, but she dealt with people whose situations made them "as good as." At the end of each month, she was pleading with landlords not to kick them out into the street for not paying rent, bringing them sandwiches and other food into her office because they had blown so much of their monthly stipend on alcohol and cigarettes, both of which are expensive here in Germany. Just taking other people's tax money and blindly stuffing it into other people's pockets with no conditions at all is only going to work with those people who have the self-discipline to use the money to better their lives. Just as there are tens of millions of Americans who vote Republican even if it means their getting less or no medical care, and having less of a chance at finding work, so, too, can one find people wanting UBI in order to be having nicotine fits and begging for food at the end of each month. Many of them need help and counseling if they are going to profit from state generosity. Without that, plenty of them will never crawl out of the hole they are in. Social workers cry and rage because there are so many that don't even want to. It's not as easy as it sounds.