buybuydandavis comments on On Walmart, And Who Bears Responsibility For the Poor - Less Wrong

13 Post author: ChrisHallquist 27 November 2013 05:08AM

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Comment author: buybuydandavis 26 November 2013 03:34:14AM 1 point [-]

http://www.gp.org/greenpages/content/volume8/issue3/oped5.php

My first google US hit. Promising. Not only basic income, but coupled with reducing corporate welfare. And the numbers don't seem crazy - $600-$800. I consider probably the majority of the arguments used appealing to libertarians. I didn't expect much common ground at all.

Comment author: Lumifer 26 November 2013 03:58:31AM 0 points [-]

Promising.

Not.

This is pie-in-the-sky promises with no hard numbers or, actually, much of any economic analysis. Instead there's a lot of handwaving about cutting government spending and corporate welfare, introducing flat tax (!), etc.

Comment author: buybuydandavis 26 November 2013 08:08:19PM *  0 points [-]

It's one page on a web site. How much detail did you expect? They do refer to their party platform. Did you read that to look for details?

They say:

Economists have calculated that we can afford a universal basic income of $800 or more by cutting government, starting with corporate welfare and other programs that become superfluous.

Certainly a footnote would have been useful here. Maybe there is one in their party platform. But you can eyeball government spending and do some basic math yourself. $800 isn't crazy talk, if you're actually replacing other health and welfare programs.

I liked the basic principles they expressed - reduce government subsidies and tax carve outs. It surprised me to see the Greens come out in favor of that. I didn't have high expectations in the first place.