My thought is, Why try something that makes no sense?

All the discussion about having a basic income mystifies me, because — IMO — the idea is so obviously unworkable. Why do people keep talking about something that cannot possibly work?

At best, a basic income system would create a two-tier society: one on “the dole”, and the other actually doing things and trying to make something of themselves.

The idea that a basic income would provide a safety net seems incredibly naive to me — it could not possibly be enough. When I have been unemployed, I never bothered to apply for unemployment, because the amount they would give me would be so little that it would not make a dent in my living expenses here in Northern Virginia.

If a basic income were actually a safety net, it would have to be enough to pay my expenses. For someone in my region of the country, who owns, say, a townhouse, that would have to be around $10,000/month, tax free. But a basic income at that level would be unsustainable.

And if it did pay my expenses, then I would abandon working altogether, and focus on things that I really want to do. In my case, that would be (1) improve my guitar playing, (2) write some novels, (3) do more outdoor activities, and (4) perhaps go back to school and finish my PhD (which is not related to my profession). Why slog away in my profession (IT) when I could be doing things that I love?

The concept of a basic income rests on the assumption that if people could do what they want to do, then they would do economically valuable activities. But that is a false assumption: most people would watch TV, and those who don’t would probably do things that have no value to anyone but them.

Work is about doing things for other people that they want — not doing what you want.