Essays Sample on Universal Basic Income

Without setting a standard for living in the United States, the economic and social well being of its citizens will continue to worsen. In the last two decades we have been plagued by financial collapses, a once in a hundred year pandemic, and jobs that are either sent overseas or being automated by robots. The gap between the ultra rich and the rest of the country continues to grow at a rapid rate. In most states, working a regular job at minimum wage for 40 hours a week does not pay you enough to have financial stability. Meanwhile, the wealthiest people in the world continued to rake in trillions of dollars during a pandemic where many citizens were struggling to stay afloat when they were being laid off without money to support themselves or their families. Therefore, the US needs to implement a universal basic income that can set a standard of living so people don't have to live in homlessness or live a life on the brink of poverty. 

One way that universal basic income could be implemented is by making it an expansion of the existing social security program. The current social security program provides a basic foundation to what could be universal basic income. Another reason for using the foundation of the social security program is that payments could be made to citizens through your social security number to ensure that money will be paid to individuals instead of a household. For this new system to function properly, there would also need to be a minimum of requirements in order to qualify for this program. In an interesting read titled,  Basic Income: A Radical Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy the authors stated, “Some basic-income proposals are explicitly restricted to adults, and have then a universal child-benefit scheme as their logical complement “ (9). I agree with this sentiment as citizens should receive these payments when they are old enough to have responsibility and people with families can get benefits too since children are very expensive to raise. Instead of making the income exclusive to those who have a job or a disability, there should be no requirement to have a job to receive this income. I say that there should be no requirement for a job or receive this income because during the Covid -19 pandemic people had no control over whether they had a job or not because of external factors they could not control. This forced the government to act temporarily, but in reality people are facing the same problems even when there is no pandemic. It is evidence that there needs to be a basic income available to everybody. 

In a country with over 330 million citizens spread all throughout the United States, one must begin to question where the money to fund a program like this would come from. It is true, a program like this would cost a lot of money to implement but there are a few ways that this could cost less. In an infographic for wealth inequality on inequality.org, it showed that Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos combined wealth is more than the bottom 50% of Americans' wealth. There are substantial disparities between the ultra wealthy and the other 300 million citizens, which the US government can take advantage of. Creating an ultra wealthy tax for millionaires and billionaires that bank in the US would create a significant amount of tax revenue that could go towards citizens. Alaska is actually a state where this is a version of universal basic income already implemented. This version is called the permanent fund dividend which is funded through the state's revenue from minerals and oil.  There is a possibility that other states that have access to valuable & sustainable resources that the state may be able to funnel revenue towards a program like universal basic income. These are all cost effective ways of making the universal basic income program cheaper as a package, Thus easier to sell in congress. 

I think that a standard amount of money for all citizens seems to be a good idea until one considers the difference in cost of living once you start crossing state borders. The income would have to be variable and depend on a few factors how much money an individual may receive. These factors could be current salary, age, and place of residence. I am just naming a few that may be important to calculating how much an individual may receive when they are in the universal basic income program. This would be both beneficial to the people and the government since the government will be saving money and people living in areas with a high cost of living are not left to resort to desperate measures to make money or go homeless. This brings up an important reason for implementing a universal basic income. More people that were struggling to put money together, could have more of an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and be successful. Also crime would theoretically go down since people would technically be less desperate to steal or make money the fast and illegal way. The government needs to create that safety net so citizens can live a comfortable life without having to work excessively long hours and at a wage they won't support them. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and hasn't been adjusted since 2009. If you were to work for 60 hours a week at that rate you would gross $435 for the week but don't forget the federal income tax which is about 15% of your paycheck which brings it down your net paycheck for the week to be roughly $369 for 60 hours of work. Yet another reason for needing a basic income for citizens so they can work a regular job with a regular wage and make enough money to live in good health and not worry about not having two pennies to rub together.

The major opposing argument for a universal  basic income is a repeat of the unemployment trap that many US citizens fall into. Citizens that qualified for unemployment began to receive money that they would depend on every month in order for them to pay the bills. If they were to get a job, they would lose these benefits and therefore would not be receiving this money every month which makes the person not want to have a job since they will be paid money if they don't. This trap keeps people barely afloat and makes it harder for that person to lift themselves out from poverty. You could see why some may be worried for a universal basic income that could just keep some people barely afloat. While people on welfare are entitled to their own decisions, universal basic income would not make this problem worse in fact it might solve it. If the government took away unemployment and introduced a universal basic income for people no matter if they are employed or not would create a necessary safety net for citizens that would be there even if they are trying to increase their wealth. 

As explained above, the solution to the problem of economic stability is very simple. The government has to provide that stability in order for the well being of the citizens to be satisfied properly. Passing a piece of legislation for universal basic income is a very lengthy and complex process which requires the attention of many politicians and coordination from many other branches of government in order for a program the magnitude of this to be implemented into society. Perhaps if a program like this would be implemented in the US, it would then create a trend for other countries that will follow in the US’s footsteps. Personally, I think that the only way to solve these complex problems that citizens face, the government needs to create a safety net so when events like the Covid-19 pandemic happen, the government is prepared to take care of their citizens.