What's Next: Basic Income For Every American

An old half-baked idea has been reinvented as a new recipe to grant every American a guaranteed income.  This socialist dish last appeared on the menu in 1968 when more than a thousand economists endorsed the income plan.  Today the titans of Silicon Valley are serving up the idea.

The vision shepherded by high-tech leaders is for the federal government to pay thousands of dollars each year to every adult in America, whether they are working or unemployed.  To make the idea more palatable to taxpayers, they have cleverly relabeled the gimmick a "universal basic income."

The repackaging is a not so subtle suggestion many Americans are failing to earn a basic living wage.  It sounds deceptively like a humanitarian issue.  But the median income of American wage earners is already among the highest in the world: $59,836 annually per household. 

Some of the lords of technology energizing the effort include Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla's Elon Musk.  But it is gaining traction politically with some elected officials beginning to float the notion.  California Democrats this year adopted guaranteed income as part of the party platform.

Those backing guaranteed income have benefited from past political failures.  The tech titans claim the government payments are not a handout but a way to  assist workers displaced by robots, artificial intelligence and automation.  Oddly these same firms are the ones creating the disruptive technology.

Proponents have deliberately been evasive about the nuts-and-bolts of the plan.  One idea is for the feds to dispense $10,000 checks annually to every adult.  Families with kids would get more money. Existing health care programs and Social Security would remain in place under most assumptions.

Backers claim the payments would lift the vast majority of Americans above the poverty line, gifting everyone with a "living wage".  Some anti-poverty programs, such as food stamps, would be eliminated.  Even with the savings, the price tag for American taxpayers would be astronomical.

Some economists at MIT figure the cost of a universal basic income plan may tack on as much as $2 trillion in annual expenses to the federal budget.  That amount is about one-half of current federal spending.  Without massive tax increases, the plan would add trillions to the federal deficit.

The enormous cost doesn't faze apostles such as Natalie Foster from the Institute for the Future and New America California.  "No one would have to be a workaholic only out of fear that they'd have nothing to fall back on if they stopped," she points out.  She apparently views hard work as unfair. 

Others see guaranteed basic income as a way for people to choose not to work at low-paying jobs.  Parents would be freed from oppressive jobs with greater opportunities to invest time in their children and to pursue their career dreams.  If that sounds Utopian, it is.  But it resonates with younger adults.

In a poll conducted this year by Gallup and Northeastern University, 48 percent of Americans surveyed said they would support a universal basic income.  Fifty-two percent opposed the idea. A majority (51%) of younger Americans, 18-to-35, are most likely of any group to back UBI.

But one question no one appears anxious to answer is this: Will guaranteed income destroy the work ethic?  Some economists fear a toxic side effect will be to undermine the positive aspect of working for a living.  Many Americans may just decide to take the "free money" and retire to the couch.

In Silicon Valley, the bigwigs view this as an easy solution to buy off the displaced workers instead of funding retraining programs.  Tech chiefs are not the first to sound a warning that technology will uproot hundreds of thousands of workers.  However, past alarmists have been proven wrong.

For instance, when computers burst onto the scene, doomsayers predicted technology would make many thousands of jobs redundant.  But the reality is the U.S. economy has added 80 million jobs since the advent of the computer. 

When the Internet became a global force, economists preached gloom and doom too.  Thousands of jobs in bricks and mortal retailers would be lost.  Since those predictions, the economy has chugged along, adding 25 million jobs since the Internet became mainstream.

Despite this evidence, UBI advocates are growing in number.  The Washington political class salivates at the mention of guaranteed income. Imagine Congress with the power to sway voters each election year by promising to increase the universal basic income.  Who could be against it?

America has been built on a proven premise that hard work, dedicated effort and intellect produce success and self-worth.  Haphazardly abandoning this unique American concept will create economic and social upheaval.   Not to mention that free money will produce idleness not a path to happiness.