Date: March 31st, 2026 6:11 PM Author: Canary know-it-all orchestra pit party of the first part
not officially. there were RUMORS of somewhere between 15K and 30K being shitcanned at some point in the next few months. but it turned out to be the full 30K, and later in the same month.
Date: March 31st, 2026 6:33 PM Author: house-broken background story love of her life
Nobody has actually thought through what that means. The concept of a consumer economy falls apart if there's not people making different amounts of $$$ and everything else that results from different life outcomes. I like staying at Four Seasons and flying first class because I work a lot and can afford to. I like buying fancy organic shit that costs 5x what normal food costs. If people like me and everyone else except for generational wealth eliTTTes all just get "UBI," then what happens? (When you ask AI, it devolves pretty quickly into "oh well we will reimagine how we spend our time and will create more art" ljl)
Date: March 31st, 2026 6:48 PM Author: Richard Ames
I sort of think all the UBI talk is just a means to keep proles from pushing back. A lot of the big ideas of the moment are just pipe dreams meant to keep general hope alive in the existing system IMO.
Date: March 31st, 2026 7:04 PM Author: Tan Garrison
I don't think it'd ever be a case of 1% working elites and 99% on UBI, more like a generously expanded welfare state covering perhaps 25% of the working-age population. But UBI would only trigger massive inflation as all employers would have to give major salary raises to keep the gap between the UBI and working populations significant enough. Which ends up defeating the purpose of UBI. In short, it ain't happening.
Date: March 31st, 2026 7:28 PM Author: Red rigpig space
also, when substantially more than 50% of the population subsists on it—including marginally productive and capable people—and economic mobility is no longer even theoretically possible and the social stigma of being on the dole is forgotten, what’s to stop the masses from voting themselves more and more of the elite’s stuff (which of course won’t work, but will spur some other crisis)?
Date: March 31st, 2026 11:34 PM Author: concupiscible flirting step-uncle's house
This is basically the world in Cyberpunk 2077 and I think they're right that when you can no longer make money legitimately the "dream" becomes being some crime boss.
Date: March 31st, 2026 11:32 PM Author: concupiscible flirting step-uncle's house
"then u have oldmos on SS and medicare"
That isn't really the same as UBI. For SS these people paid into a system and get paid out based on what they paid in. SS disability is arguably more similar but that's basically just public disability insurance funded by SS contributions.
UBI is just welfare for people that didn't necessarily work a day in their lives.
Date: March 31st, 2026 7:37 PM Author: arousing police squad
yes, if by ubi you mean giant slums of millions of people entirely cut off from the formal economy eating garbage and each other with a life expectancy in the 30s and drone patrols preventing unauthorized access to the private property that neatly encircles the whole hell hole yeah
Date: March 31st, 2026 11:29 PM Author: concupiscible flirting step-uncle's house
Anyone that thinks current life is dystopian has no idea how bad life will be when most people are on UBI. Keep in mind, for elites someone on UBI is basically a net loss. Their best outcome is that you die as soon as possible. You'll see new ever more addictive and deadly drugs flooding the streets, new diseases popping up (that appear weirdly genetically engineered), and of course the required vaccines for those diseases that the elites will casually avoid.