> SS isn't supposed to be a total retirement plan, but it is for many
There are many people who are unable to work due to age and infirmity and have no other savings and who are forced to rely on SS as a total retirement program, but there are very few if any who do so through choice, even if they have earnings high enough to have SS benefits at the high end of what is possible.
> What is the incentive to work under this scheme?
Even assuming that BI provided a standard of living equivalent to minimum wage (which the levels that have generally been proposed don't, even if one assumes no inflationary effect from BI itself, which is naive), people who have the capacity to expend effort to acheive greater than minimum wage incomes frequently do so under the current regime.
The same incentive exists to do some work in a BI scheme that exists to work to get more than minimum-wage in a non-BI scheme. That incentive is called "money".
Furthermore, because BI would be available to all unconditionally (unlike existing means-tested programs), it would mitigate disincentives to work that exist with existing systems that it would replace.
>> Even assuming that BI provided a standard of living equivalent to minimum wage (which the levels that have generally been proposed don't, even if one assumes no inflationary effect from BI itself, which is naive)
But TFA said it would replace social security payments. Is that more than minimum wage? at $10 per hour and about 160 hr per month that's $1600 per month. I believe social security pays better than that for many people.
There are many people who are unable to work due to age and infirmity and have no other savings and who are forced to rely on SS as a total retirement program, but there are very few if any who do so through choice, even if they have earnings high enough to have SS benefits at the high end of what is possible.
> What is the incentive to work under this scheme?
Even assuming that BI provided a standard of living equivalent to minimum wage (which the levels that have generally been proposed don't, even if one assumes no inflationary effect from BI itself, which is naive), people who have the capacity to expend effort to acheive greater than minimum wage incomes frequently do so under the current regime.
The same incentive exists to do some work in a BI scheme that exists to work to get more than minimum-wage in a non-BI scheme. That incentive is called "money".
Furthermore, because BI would be available to all unconditionally (unlike existing means-tested programs), it would mitigate disincentives to work that exist with existing systems that it would replace.