Of course as soon as money is freely handed out the games will begin. If it is distributed per household then a lot of current households will break up to increase the allotment. Is it fair to take away the social security payments of those that paid into the system have earned?
Do you give money to people serving time in prison? What happens to the border crossings once this level of security is guaranteed to anyone that sneaks in? The other day I was talking to a Canadian citizen that came into the country 50 years ago as a young guy. He made a couple of attempts to become a citizen but gave up when he had to hire a lawyer. He has worked here for all that time but could be deported under certain circumstances. Would he get a check? What should be done about the very old who need plenty of expensive medical care? As everyone is aware that can eat up far more money than we are talking about. Should the government take over the medical industry? How much money will be stolen by criminals that can easily fake identities and births, etc. to obtain payments under false pretenses? There is a great deal of corruption in the medicare and medicaid systems where fake illnesses and patient soliciting takes place. Florida is famous for this type of theth. I suppose any system is going to be difficult to administer and keep as honest as possible including what is currently in place. But, would something of this nature be particularly difficult to police? I see a system such as we are discussing as just a method of allocating resources in a more equitable manner. Human nature is a powerful force that the concept will be pitted against. In the past money or great wealth has concentrated into the hands of a relatively few in society somewhat like power. It is going to be very difficult to overcome this natural tendency and I suspect that some form of unintended redistribution will come into existence that will make it difficult to achieve the original goal. Perhaps inflation of prices will push the system back toward what has been seen as normal. Or, it might so happen that other forms of income will adjust so that the overall effect is somewhat similar to what we have now. Stocks or property or interest, etc. might define the ability to distribute goods and services if lots of money becomes freely available. If I recall, when Spain received great quantities of gold from the new world prices of everything jumped to compensate and gold became less important. Sorry if I sound negative about this issue, but I think that the consequences are going to be much different than what is expected. Who knows what the ideal economic system should be, but what we currently have has worked relatively well so far. Of course the distribution of wealth is not ideal, but there is plenty being generated. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Mon, Dec 15, 2014 2:51 pm Subject: Re: [Vo]:OT: what if everybody got free cash? Ken Deboer <barlaz...@gmail.com> wrote: My calculations (as an amateur) are based on about $2000/month per household. Assuming 90 percent of 115 million US households would need it, that would amount to roughly $2.5 trillion needed annually. At present, direct Government outlay for basic 'welfare' programs is at minimum $.5 T, much of which would be 'saved'. That does not include Social Security, $0.7 T. The plans I have seen eliminate Social Security and also welfare. $2,000/month per household would be more than the average Social Security benefit, which is $1,300. I think $2,000 is too much to start with, given today's technology. - Jed
