Reply #64: Various arguments.

[patriotvoice]

No matter their income level, people prefer to party -- the rich buy cocaine, codeine, and Lamborghinis; the poor buy booze, pot, and lottery tickets. The difference is that the rich really do have disposable income, while the poor really do not.

This addiction to unnecessary things is not a class condition, it's a human condition. The argument for GMI is to end poverty by simply erasing the very conditions under which "poverty" is defined: "you are poor if you make less than $X, so we will make sure everyone makes $X+1." But that doesn't address the human condition, the preference to buy discretionary before mandatory, to buy before save.

How would GMI address the human condition? How would GMI guarantee the income is spent on the things necessary to actually reduce poverty?

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Let us compare minimum wage (MW) to minimum income (MI). The idea behind MW is simple: work 40 hours per week, 50 weeks a year and the average American should be able to survive. When initiated, the program worked well. But it has not kept up with cost-of-living. How would MI be any different? How would it fight inflation?

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"Guaranteed income" slaps many in the face: regardless of what you do, you get a minimum. A guaranteed wage is more palatable: you work and you get a certain minimum.

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The use of an arbitrarily income line to define poverty is ripe for abuse. Let us assume GMI is $20,001 per year. Suppose I have $40,000 in savings, no employment, and expenses of $20,000 per year. Should I receive the GMI? If I did, that would guarantee I never had to work again: I would receive enough each year to pay my expenses and I would never have to work again.

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What causes poverty? Lack of money.
What causes a lack of money? Expenses exceed income.
GMI addresses the income side of the equation with liquid cash.
Why prefer that over addressing the expense side with tangibles?

In other words, why not provide:
- Guaranteed maximum housing cost,
- Guaranteed maximum grocery cost,
- Guaranteed maximum heating/cooling cost,
- Guaranteed maximum health care cost?