Universal Basic Income (UBI) Works! But Critics Hate Poor People So Yeah…
It’s Bread and Roses for a Reason
UBI Works As Intended
Many studies on UBI, both here and overseas, have proven that it can reduce poverty, improve health, and financial stability – including and most importantly housing and food security. Despite this evidence, negative messaging about poverty and those who experience it continue to overpower data. This month I covered a new study on UBI from Germany. “The country’s ‘Pilot Project of Basic Income’ analyzed the results of 122 people receiving an unconditional, tax-free basic income of 1,200 Euros each month, which would be about the equivalent of $1,370 USD today – this study shows that participants continued to work, pursued higher education, improved their mental health, built savings, and even gave more to others, all of which is positive for the individual and their communities.”
In the U.S., many cities have reported positive results on UBI pilot programs. “In Stockton, California, the Stockton SEED Program gave 125 residents $500/month for 2 years. Again, the cash payment was completely unconditional. The result? Participants actually worked more while finding full-time jobs. They also reported significant improvements in their well-being. Additionally, they were able to pay for unexpected expenses during emergencies and make payments on their debts.
In Denver, Colorado, the Denver Basic Income Project (DBIP) gives qualifying homeless participants up to $1,000 a month, as well as a basic phone and data plan that they can use to connect with services, employers, or potential landlords. According to DBIP’s Interim Quantitative Report, after just six months, participants reported fewer nights sleeping outside, fewer trips to the ER, and an increase in employment. Additionally, food insecurity decreased and shelter stays and placements increased.”
There are still mixed results among the various studies. A study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) on UBI found that “receiving guaranteed income had no impact on the labor supply of full-time workers, but part-time workers had lower labor market participation by 13 percent,” according to their results. With that said, the study still reported a significant improvement in housing security, lowering credit card debt and greater food security. Female recipients reported a greater increase in financial security overall. The primary take away from this study is that, “individuals were motivated to find higher-quality or better-fitting jobs, reduce employment barriers, support entrepreneurship, or engage in productive non-work activities like care-giving as a result of the payments.
But the data showed that participants placed the highest value on leisure time, being it was the main activity that increased due to the transfers.”
UBI works if the goal is to reduce poverty while also simultaneously increasing everyone’s quality of life.
Critics of Universal Basic Income (UBI) Don’t Believe Poor People Deserve Leisure
“The results of this study should surprise no one,” said Brian Balfour, senior vice president of research with the John Locke Foundation. “When you pay people not to work, people will choose less work.”
“Government welfare programs have proven to be ineffective at reducing poverty, and if anything have worsened poverty by creating dependency,” Brian Balfour noted in an article for The Carolina Journal.
Government welfare programs do not work (as they should) because, like these comments shared by Balfour, its foundation is also built on the classist viewpoints. Even now, public assistance programs include stipulations that end up harming the very people it’s meant to help. Complicated applications, rigid work requirements, and ableist systems that lack accommodations for disabled people often shut the door on those who need help.
The thing is, these same anti-poor sentiments not only shape policy, and continue to do so, but they also fuel continued stigmatization of poor people. Moving toward UBI requires a fundamental shift in how society views and thinks about poor people – towards a space where they are just as deserving of food and shelter regardless of how much capital they produce. Beyond that, it challenges our thoughts on leisure, work, and capitalism.
It’s Bread and Roses for a Reason
As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!
As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women’s children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.
– From Labor Notes
The working class, which includes mothers and caretakers, deserve roses too, even if they do not generate capital. Disabled people deserve roses. We all deserve roses, and roses grow in leisure time. The only reason why we shun leisure time is because it is a moment where we do not generate capital. None of this indicates that people do not work, or that they are lazy. It means that they are alive, and in those moments of leisure, we are reminded of that.
What Is Work?
If you’re writing on Substack right now, you’re working. It’s true. What if we re-framed how we think of work, as not an action(s) that generates capital, but instead, any kind of output, any moment of care, or creation, that we think of as valuable.
There are many ways to think about work. What does work look like in today’s world? What does work mean? Does work build virtue? Most of the work we do is in service of others. Working is any moment that is dedicated to something that isn’t ourselves.
If that’s the case then many of us have great “work ethic”, in a sense that many of us spend the majority of our time, each day, doing some kind of care work. Yes, we have jobs to go to, but we also have families, friends, and communities to care for too. We have children to raise. We have people to feed. Those who are sick that need caring for. When we support a friend or loved one, we are working too.
I could even argue that resting and healing is not considered leisure, as it is necessary to work again, whatever that work may be.
In the here and now, we can continue our work to make the world a better place. We can continue our work to bring bread and roses to those around us, and that is good work to do.
I apologize for any typos. I am just a girl after all.
I also have a Ko-fi, where you can buy me a coffee for $5!
