\n\n“The basic income suffers from a number of flaws it can\u2019t get away from. The first is that it\u2019s either too big, so it\u2019s unaffordable, or it\u2019s too small, so it doesn\u2019t make a difference. In Europe, certainly in the UK, most of the basic income schemes that are advanced here, we\u2019re talking about something equivalent to $85 a week. While that\u2019s going to make a difference to some people, it\u2019s not going to fundamentally change the life choices of the people it\u2019s supposedly targeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the objective is to emancipate people, then [a UBI] has to be close to $1,000, possibly $2,000 a month. At those levels, we\u2019re talking about tripling the federal budget. No one\u2019s really considering that a reasonable proposal. So it suffers from a sort of catch-22.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“There are lots of factors that cause people not to reach their potential that are not solvable through a reasonable individual cash distribution, because they are social infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Social infrastructure services flow naturally to basic needs. If low-cost social housing is available, it flows to people who need it rather than people who can afford a larger house. We have a free national health care service here in the UK \u2014 people don\u2019t just turn up at the doctor for fun, because it\u2019s free. They go when they\u2019re sick. People go into education programs when they need retraining. Basic social infrastructure is accessed by people at the time of need.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We defined seven basic categories of essential services that meet three criteria. For someone to meet their full potential, they need safety, opportunity, and participation. So that is individual safety, opportunity to use their skills and abilities to improve their own lives, and ability to participate in the democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does that take, in a modern sense? They need somewhere safe to live, access to food, health care access, education, access to digital information and communication systems, and access to a transport system. Our seventh category we call legal<\/em>, by which we mean access to the institutional mechanisms of democracy and society.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n ..<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The proposal for universal basic services is not a proposal for universal [public] provision. It is not that everybody will live in highly energy-efficient, low-cost, government-provided housing. It is that access to housing is available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you go on to the average university campus, you will see what looks very much like a universal basic services system. The university is providing a room in a shared environment, where you share a kitchen with someone. If you\u2019ve got more money and you want to go and live in independent housing, then you move out into a house down the street.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “There\u2019s still a private market and it would probably be the majority of consumption, but the expectation is that you\u2019re creating a base floor within that market. And that would stimulate the quality of the market and enable more innovation in the rest of the marketplace.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “We modeled our original proposal. For the vast majority of the population, everybody earning median incomes and below, there\u2019s a net positive. People right at the bottom are having something like 60 to 80 percent of their normal costs replaced by public services. That leaves them money in their pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around the median, there\u2019s a small net benefit, and then at the higher end, we\u2019re talking about net contributions that are in the dozens of dollars a month. But to put society on a sustainable path, we need to get to a higher level of responsibility and pay for the society we want. That means slightly higher levels of tax.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n