I don’t think this is a good argument against UBI when so much of our labor force is engaged in meaningless work, or what late anthropologist David Graeber called “Bullshit Jobs”. [1]
I can imagine it could make some people be perceived as lazy because they now have the freedom to do anything else besides push papers 40 hours a week and that paradigm shift could induce depression because so many people lose themselves while surviving capitalism. That said, there is already a pandemic of depression (4.7% of American adults)[2] that is likely highly correlated to the mentioned phenomena. As the corpus of mental health literature increases, it becomes more and more apparent laziness and depression are not moral failings, but societal failings emerging from the Capitalist-Protestant work ethic [conjecture].
UBI won’t change human nature’s drive to improve material conditions. It will allow many people the ability to pursue meaningful enterprise and self-actualization. For those without the drive to participate in the rat race, I would congratulate their enlightenment instead of accusing them of laziness.
Agreed. Just look at Trump, his I.Q. is one of the highest and yet his presidency has been among the worst in American history.
Now that's asking for a lot. But maybe you're right, it's way better to have a president who doesn't say much of anything.
And then there is the massive PPP wealth transfer he oversaw, both to criminals (not necessarily his fault, just his responsibility) and via the US Treasury (definitely on him). But these things are also nothing new compared to other recent POTUSes except for the most powerful playing constant victim.