Universal Basic Income Essay Sample

Universal Basic Income
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Universal Basic Income
Universal basic income (UBI) refers to the government-guaranteed payment, which citizens of a specific country receive monthly or annually. Indeed, it is also known as guaranteed minimum income. The primary reason why the government should provide UBI is to ensure that citizens can fulfill their necessities, such as proper housing, shelter, and clothes. The UBI provides financial security to individuals and covers the cost of living. Additionally, it helps people who are jobless to meet their basic needs. The flat monthly payment should be given to all people regardless of their financial statuses. The government should give its citizens the UBI to empower them, ensure that all people can meet their basic needs, eliminate poverty, and cushion individuals from technological unemployment.
The benefits of giving citizens the UBI outdo the demerits. When people are given a stipend, they can afford to meet their necessities. In that case, a UBI would reduce homelessness since many individuals, even the ones who are not employed, would have money for housing. Moreover, people are likely to obey the government orders, mainly during this time when the state wants citizens to stay at home to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The UBI can cushion people from economic recessions since they will have some funds to keep them afloat (Ward, 2021). Additionally, it would redeem some individuals from poverty, and young people would get the finances to start families and small businesses. The UBI payments can help to stabilize the economy, particularly during recession periods. In contrast, the cons of the UBI is that it can trigger inflation, reduce the rate of labor force participation, and the small monthly payment might not redeem individuals living in abject poverty from their economic turmoil.
The idea of a guaranteed minimum income has been debated for an extended period and various experiments performed by different governments, such as Canada and the United States of America (USA), in the past. Stockton's Mayor, Michael Tubbs from California, created a coalition last year in June to advocate for the UBI. He said that the UBI would help to uplift communities and build a resilient country, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic (Ward, 2021). Mayor Steve Schewel from Durham joined the coalition since he also asserted that the UBI is important to cushion Americans who have lost jobs and those whose businesses have been affected by the government's new restrictions to decrease the spread of COVID-19. Jack Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), gave $15 million to the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, which is the UBI's pilot project. The money was to be given as a monthly stipend to 55 formerly incarcerated individuals until the COVID-19 pandemic is over. Every person is guaranteed to get $500 per month (Ward, 2021). As a result, the UBI is meant to cushion people during tough economic times.
Drew Riedl shows that the UBI is the most appropriate way to eradicate poverty in a particular country (Riedl, 2020). When citizens receive a mo...