Canada Tries ANOTHER Universal Basic Income Experiment

[Saviolo]

There was a much wider UBI pilot program started a few years ago in Ontario that was intended to run for three years, but was shut down by Ontario premier Doug Ford after only one year (when he took office) despite saying he would keep it in place during his campaign. Only one year in to the three year pilot program, and it was getting good results and positive outcomes, then Doug Ford just slammed the door on it.

[Warpy]

1. "Fiscal conservatism does not work."

Oh, sing it often, sing it loud. Telling poor people how to spend their money is infantilizing them.

The time this country will be forced to institute the UBI is fast approaching. AI and robotics will obliterate a majority of the paid work in this country. People with no money, no food, about to lose even temporary housing, and with plenty of time on their hands are not going to be a stable, law abiding population.

Oh, but the Pecksniffian Nipcheeses of this world pontificate, you give money to poor people they'll just get drunk and stay that way.

While I'm sure some will, they would represent a tiny minority and they're generally people who are disastrous in any job, anyway. The majority will get bored quickly and rediscover avocations they will turn into useful occupations, everything from artisan practical products to new ideas. Shoot, they might even prove Marx right and come up with an economic and political system that will render the capitalist based systems obsolete, no human having to be either employer or employee, master or servant. Who knows?

This country, along with the whole developed world, is heading toward a period in which the UBI will be absolutely vital unless they want everything on fire because we the long suffering employed outnumber them.

The data are in and have been for a long time. Google "cash to poor people experiment" and you'll get one hell of a lot of hits, from cash to random villagers in Africa to the Canadian experiment cited above. It works. Cash tied up with strings and accompanied by overbearing policing does not work nearly as well. Poor folks know what they need more than the rich folks who look down on them think they do. It's time to treat them that way, like adults.