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Comment by erwald | Hacker News Reader

though at that point it sounds no different than a hobby, really.

This is the promise of UBI. Everyone can work on their hobby.

Enjoy working on your hobby on the government's $1,000/month because that's what any remotely plausible basic income is going to be like.

UBI is not about working on any hobby you want. It’s about redistributing wealth so that people can negotiate for more of the pie since the current system relies on using the cumulative wealth of one’s ancestors to determine their bargaining power.

At least you're candid that it's about taking money from people against their will. Most advocates couch UBI in terms like unleashing individual creativity and things like that.

I’m also candid about my current lifestyle being based on taking things from people against their will.

Their will probably was not to pick strawberries in a foreign nation or clean beers spilled surfaces at 11pm or not being able to breastfeed their infant because they need to go slap hamburgers together for $15 an hour.

I assume not all of those people willingly got drunk and high and got caught engaging in crime in their teens and 20s and willingly threw away their economic opportunities.

> taking money from people against their will

Yes, that is what taxes are.

That's what every Swedish student's income is like :).

I don't think mad_ned can afford all of us.

they don't call him mad_ned because of his sound decision making

I mean she would've still been paid. What it means is that losing your job doesn't become a pressing financial concern right away.

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