• 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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        7 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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          7 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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              7 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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                6 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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                  5 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?