Many arguments have been made for Universal Basic Income (UBI) in the debate of revovery from the pandemic. This think piece by Ian Gough makes the alternative case for Universal Basic Services (UBS) as more egalitarian and sustainable than UBI. Importantly, it argues, UBS is also politically more incremental and reformist than the case for a true UBI.

Universal Basic Services (UBS) is an alternative case to UBI.

Under UBS, the provision of free public services must go beyond health or education to cover other basic necessities (e.g., housing, care, transport, information, nutrition).

UBS can be more egalitarian with a strong redistributive performance and impact on income inequalities.

UBS can also be more sustainable by decarbonizing the economy in a just way - rather than disproportionally loading the costs on the lower income brackets - and by supporting sustainable consumption corridors.

  • chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world
    333·
    1 month ago

    I think this is the better move overall. With a monthly stipend companies will quickly start charging more for the same product just to get a taste of all of that money going to the population. They’ll call it inflation again, and we’ll all get fucked. If the services themselves are free, they can’t inflate and fuck over the lower class as easily.

    They still will.

    It’ll just be slightly less convenient.