No argument about the parasites at the top of society, but the ones at the bottom do incur far more than just a rounding error.
I've always thought the basic income idea is interesting, but I'm not sure how it could be made to work. If everyone receives a basic income, then those who earn more must pay back enough in taxes to cover their own basic income and then some. How this is really different than what we have today? People who receive government benefits get them mostly in the form of discretionary income. The argument goes back to "who" and "how much."
Well, one big difference is that it doesn't create those perverse incentives that prevent people from moving off of the dole roles. It also removes a whole lot of administrative costs, and it kills the issue of gaming the system. You get what you get, and there's simply no way to get more from the government.
I've been curious for awhile: in the USA, if you took Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, student loans, welfare and rolled them all up into one fund that was evenly divided to each person, how much would you have given out? Turns out the number is about $6-7k per capita. That's... not enough, but a pretty decent start. The economics suggest it would increase overall productivity, which would bring in a bit more tax revenue by itself. But taxes would have to be raised significantly--but not an obscene amount--to make it work.
The difference is that with basic income if you start working just a little bit - your basic income would stay with you and your total income would increase.
In current situation, if you start working - you are losing your welfare/disability benefits.
I've always thought the basic income idea is interesting, but I'm not sure how it could be made to work. If everyone receives a basic income, then those who earn more must pay back enough in taxes to cover their own basic income and then some. How this is really different than what we have today? People who receive government benefits get them mostly in the form of discretionary income. The argument goes back to "who" and "how much."