Economics UBI in America

With Andrew Yang pushing a $1000/month "freedom Dividend" as a big part of his campaign in the Democratic Party primary, what do you think of the arguments for and against an universal basic income? Do you think it would benefit society or cause problems? Would it improve your life or do you think it would lead to relationship problems?

What is the Freedom Dividend? - Andrew Yang for President

For me as a single guy, I could live on $12,000/year once my house is paid off in 4 years. It would be more than the $5000 I made in my first year after college, but is a lot less than the $70000 I make a year now. I wouldn't be getting ahead, but I wouldn't worry about job security or having to find a job. The only reason I make more money than this is so I might get a non-existent girlfriend. I would still have to pay $4000 in property taxes and home insurance. $1000-$2000 in car expenses and insurance, and ~$3000 for food. So that leaves $3000-$4000 a year for entertainment, experiences, and electronics. Although, without Improved Medicare For All, medical expenses could wipe that out quick. Even just current health insurance premiums would be around $3600 a year for a basic plan without subsidies. If I didn't quit my job, the extra $12,000 a year would help pay for some items, but it would probably just go into a bank account. I could also see using it like some seniors use their social security money as house money at the casino if I'm not dependent on it to survive.

When it comes to society, I bet we will see a lot of people drop out of the job market and sit at home and surf the internet, watch Netflix, and play video games for the first year or so. But, it will get boring eventually. I think you will find a lot of people living in vans and glorifying living on the road, especially if they can find an attractive partner to join them. But this is happening already without the UBI...
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/van-life-instagram/index.html
I do worry about the real estate cartels who will raise rent and home prices by quite a bit. It only takes a few companies all moving their prices higher at the same time to increase them all in an area. People will still want to get as much as possible for their rentals. It may help make government smaller by not needed to have as many benefit agencies to help people, who are really there to try and exclude people who don't qualify. I'm surprised anyone gets food assistance anymore with how complicated they have made it. UBI would make food stamps and WIC programs unnecessary.

I'm sure that race and gender will be used to find the most extreme versions of people who are not using their $1000 in a smart way, and the whole immigration issue will be a lot more contentious if they are able to get this money if there is a path to citizenship.

But, I do think the robots are coming, and with some basic AI, we will see large amounts of people drop out of the job market (even if they aren't counted as unemployed). I think this is still 10 years away though. It might happen sooner at fast food places, call centers, and farms with tractors that run the same routes or are able to pick/sort/transport crops. Warehouses, manufacturing, driving, and some other jobs will be impacted next.