What I haven’t understood, though, is why someone would choose to work as a bricklayer or spend their 20s sitting in a fluorescent office designing an industrial process to make ball-bearing lubricant 0.4% more efficient. It’s that sort of menial, unglamorous labor that our society and quality of life is built on.
It's also that sort of labor that has been—and will continue to be—replaced by robots.
As for why someone would do that? Well, you still get paid your UBI even if you have a job. So they would do that for the same reason anyone does that—they want the money.
It is true there are some folks who are fine with making the minimum, however I’d wager most would take a job to increase their income significantly.
UBI is Universal Basic Income. The keyword here is "basic". If you sit on your ass and collect UBI, you should receive enough money to let you live in a crappy apartment with roommates, and get some crappy food to eat at the local crappy grocery store. Do you want to live in a crappy apartment with roommates, and not be able to afford to eat at a nice restaurant? Me neither. If you want extra luxuries, you have to work more, to make more money. That's UBI in a nutshell.
Who wants to work at a restaurant if they don’t have to? Who will lay bricks and take out the trash if they don’t have to? The idea that UBi can help people find fulfilling work leads to the question of who does the unfulfilling work.
As a side note, working in a restaurant doesn't have to be a bad job. In the US it's often associated with low pay but there are a lot of people actually enjoying it (I know some).
People will work at a restaurant if they don't have to so they can afford a place without crappy roommates, or in a better part of town. It's really that simple. You work, even at a crappy job, and now you have more money than you get with the UBI alone. Is this really such a hard concept for you?
And so does everyone else. Prices will reflect that.
> Is this really such a hard concept for you?
Yes, what's so hard about supply and demand? Housing costs too much? Increase supply. Healthcare costs too much? Increase supply. Education costs too much? Increase supply.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. It's all really simple. If you want the price to go down increase supply. I'm not saying it's easy - but nothing else will work. Redistributing costs more energy than is gained. If you want to help those in need, increase supply.
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here. It's all really simple. Welfare exists for a reason, even if people like you refuse to believe this.
Make jobs that increase supply, and give some of that supply to those who can't work. China is building new cities from scratch, why not do that given the scope of UBI as an initiative?
That's how many people I know have lived their entire lives, even if they worked hard. And some of them because they could not find a job. Some are young some are old. You live in a bubble.
Do you really think most people, especially young people, can afford to live in an appartment of their own, or go eat at a nice restaurant? Do you think McDonalds is full of young people because it's better than a nice restaurant?