VC, Entrepreneur Says Basic Income Would Work Even If 90% People 'Smoked Pot' and Didn't Work (techinsider.io)

An anonymous reader cites a story on TI: The chief complaint people lodge at universal basic income -- a form of income distribution that gives people money to cover basic needs regardless of whether they work or not -- is that it'll make them lazy. Sam Altman doesn't buy it. In a recent episode of the Freakonomics podcast, entitled "Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income?" Altman argued basic income could support huge amounts of productivity loss and still carry the economy on its shoulders. "Maybe 90% of people will go smoke pot and play video games, but if 10% of the people go create incredible new products and services and new wealth, that's still a huge net-win," Altman says. "And the American puritanical ideal that hard work for its own sake is valuable -- period -- and that you can't question that, I think that's just wrong." [...] The complaint Altman addressed on the Freakonomics podcast is a common one. Study after study, however, has shown that giving people extra money makes them feel financially secure. That security ends up leading to empowerment, not de-motivation.

Comments

Re:Never going to happen

[Daemonik]

The Capitalist system has also created more corruption, more poverty, more pollution, more trash and more needless products than any other system in the history of mankind.

What's your point?

That's why Greece and Venezuela...

[Nova Express]

...are such economic paradises right now. And they were just practicing everyday garden-variety socialism, not this pie-in-the-sky land-of-the-lotus-eaters guaranteed minimum wage fantasy.

Now cue the "that's not true socialism/communism" loser brigade to explain how ever real-world example is somehow flawed and inferior to the pristine imaginary socialist paradise that exists nowhere but in their heads.

I guess now is also a good time to note that coming up is Victims of Communism Day is just around the corner on May 1st. You know, the day when we honor the memories of the 100 million people killed by communist governments.

And as long as I'm offending all the true believes, let's throw another log on their rage fire: I read a book once about a world where everyone stopped working. It was called Atlas Shrugged...