Eric Walker <eric.wal...@gmail.com> wrote:
> That does not include Social Security, $0.7 T. The plans I have seen >> eliminate Social Security and also welfare. >> > > From a tactical perspective, any plan in the US that eliminates Social > Security will be doomed from the start. > You do not have to eliminate it. What you do is subtract Social Security payments from the "free cash" universal payment. Suppose the universal payment is $10,000 a year to start with. The average Social Security benefit is $1,200 per month, or $14,400 per year. So, retired people would continue getting $14,400 per year instead of $10,000. Uncle Sam pays a little more to them than to other adults. As the universal benefit is gradually increased it will eventually be worth more than the average Social Security benefit. At that point Uncle Sam would be saving money on the universal benefit, paying out a little less to retirees than to the rest of the population. You could start phasing out Social Security. Social Security tax could be reduced because most people could get along with just the universal benefit. The tax to pay for this would have to come mainly from corporations that make a great deal of money from robot labor. They are the only ones who will have income, as the value of human labor gradually falls to zero. There is a good chance that the US will be the last country to have a > basic income. We do whatever we can to do not do the right thing. > As Winston Churchill put it: "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else." - Jed
