• ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    7 hours ago

    No. That would be achievable through reallocation of funds, e.g. from tax revenue. If the quote is correct, that’s just increasing monetary mass, aka printing money. Which is Inflationary AF.

    That being said, I find it hard to believe that a CEO in this day and age wouldn’t have at least this basic understanding of how the economy works. This being Musk, there’s no need to invent extra character flaws. The man has plenty to go around.

    • cavitationfetishist2@quokk.au
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      6 hours ago

      find it hard to believe a CEO wouldn’t understand

      Being a CEO is an actual disease that causes measurable cognitive decline. These are literally the dumbest fucks on the planet.

    • gibmiser@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Its a cover. Saying populist ideas without any intention to support them or help them come about is just a way to hide his real actions under a veneer.

    • Bonsoir@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Well, the text says “you could actually get deflation because there will be so much abundance produced”. There is some reality where this is true, as increasing the monetary mass would do nothing if the economy (the amount of goods and services produces) increases proportionally. But I wouldn’t bet on a universal basic income increasing the country’s production.
      Also, only the rich and upper-middle class would suffer from inflation. Poor people’s financial situation would still improve.

      • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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        6 hours ago

        The printing money wouldn’t be enough. You’d also have to legislate what people are not allowed to do after the money printing begins (like rent hikes equal to the average household size * the ubi check).

        • Bonsoir@lemmy.ca
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          4 hours ago

          Which you already have to do, because there already is inflation. I don’t see how a UBI would change anything if the inflation stays the same.

    • EvilBit@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      The only way this makes sense, and I guarantee he’s not advocating for this, would be to print and distribute so much money to the lower and middle classes that the upper class wealth is diluted and inequality is reduced. But the havoc that would wreak outside of the US is something I can’t even speculate on.

      • PyroNeurosis@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        6 hours ago

        But even that wouldn’t do a thing to them - their value isn’t stored in money, so any inflation would only hurt the people who’s value is.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      How do you get UBI without issuing checks from the Treasury. There isn’t enough tax money that can be taken from Billionaires to sustain UBI.

      Not just tax a percentage, but take every penny of every Billionaire in the US. Net worth of all US billionaires is 8.4 Trillion.

      270 million US adults.

      = 31k per person. Once.

      That’s 31k one time. Then there is no money for next year.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldOP
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        6 hours ago

        Net worth of all US billionaires is 8.4 Trillion.

        The productive capacity of the accumulated capital owned by US billionaires exceeds $31k/person/year.

        The “Net Worth” figure is deceptive, because it’s the exchange value and not the use value. Sitting on tens of millions of vacant real estate units, many of which are underwater on their purchase price, shows up as far less on an individual balance sheet than the material benefit of not being homeless accrues to a homeowner.

        • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Minimum wage in many US cities is $15/hr which is $30k/year.

          Even at federal minimum wage of $7.50, that means not just taxing Billionaires at 100% but taking everything will give you 2 years of UBI before there is no money.

          • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            6 hours ago

            Minimum wage in many US cities is $15/hr which is $30k/year.

            So? UBI isn’t a wage for work. It could be $300/month and that would still be a huge boon to struggling people.

              • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                6 hours ago

                So why did you inflate it to nearly 3x that amount while arguing about how it can’t work because it’s too expensive? $1000/month is still a lot of money for people.

                • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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                  5 hours ago

                  Because baseline food and shelter is much more expensive in many cities where 80% of the population lives. That’s why minimum wage is $30k in major cities.

                  • Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                    4 hours ago

                    But again, this isn’t a wage… people can still make extra money on top of UBI. The goal isn’t to make nobody ever work again. Why pretend you can’t do it because it doesn’t translate to fully automatic luxury gay space communism?