Skip to main content

Nathan Heller on Universal Basic Income

Nathan Heller writes in The New Yorker:
Economics is at heart a narrative art, a frame across which data points are woven into stories about how the world should work.
Heller reviews a number of books debating the merits of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), its benefits, and its likelihood of true success. While it's true UBI is having a bit of a moment, it's clear no one has settled on the narrative it should take. Annie Lowery has a timely op-ed in The New York Times on the very topic, and is one of the authors Heller reviews.

One coworker enthused to me about a UBI, saying that it would solve so many social ills! He was excited to be able to shut down Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and innumerable other aspects of the social safety net. Libertarians and conservatives seem thrilled about this chance to finally, finally kill that great bugaboo, the idea that government might need to administrate social programs.

For my part, I greet a potential UBI with extreme caution. A UBI is no panacea, and one must be very cautious about any social program that libertarians greet with enthusiasm. They'll happily espouse the benefits of "choice" while building a society designed to take that choice away from its citizens. A UBI without adequate and affordable choices is no UBI at all, and such choices won't exist without regulation. (The horror! The horror!)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gearing up for Hyderabad

In just a few short weeks, I'll be taking my longest ever trip out of the United States: 30 days in Hyderabad, India. I'll fly from Detroit to Charlotte to London to Hyderabad, where I'll be living in a corporate apartment for the duration of my stay. It's going to be quite the experience.

While I'll be working quite a bit, I'm planning to take my trusty Nikon D3300 (kit lens plus 35mm prime) and Google Pixel to document my adventures. I'll be traveling alone, though I'm not sure I'll ever really be alone in a country of billions. I'm looking forward to spending time with my colleagues and experiencing life in Hyderabad while I'm there.

For the curious, the rest of my bag will include:
Bose On-Ear Wireless HeadphonesAnker SoundBuds CurveGorillaPod DSLR tripodGoogle PixelBookTwo spare battery packsChargers, adapters for international outlets, and cables out the wazooAn assortment of pens, pencils, a Sakura Koi watercolor kit, notebooks, and a …
1 comment
Read more

It's hot here

Today I decided to see some of Hyderabad. Being the adventurer that I am, I picked a walking route to the botanical gardens. "20 minutes? No problem!" I thought to myself. Even in 100°F heat, that should be plenty doable with enough water and sunscreen.Reader, it was not.After about 30 minutes hitting dead ends and nearly getting hit by tuktuks while turning redder that a tomato, I decided to try cooling off in a mall along the road. The security guards wanted to confiscate my camera, so I turned around and left. At that point I decided to call an Uber to take me back to the office.The Uber at least was prompt, clean, and fast. I felt awful using Uber, but for a foreigner who speaks no Hindi it's the best option by far.Takeaway: Hi-Tech City isn't a walkable part of Hyderabad except at grave risk of heat stroke or traffic accident, and I'm going to stick to taking an Uber anywhere I need to go.
1 comment
Read more

In praise of the Casio World Time watch

My watch for my India trip is the humble Casio World Time Illuminator in black resin. It has 5 alarms, every time zone, and a sub-dial for the home time zone. When working weird shifts across multiple time zones, it's hard to beat.

The World Time has a distinctly 80s aesthetic. While not as gorgeously uncomplicated as the F-91W (my favorite Casio watch), it is still a lovely example of a classic design era. There's a little world display that shows you which time zone you've selected, plus it gives the city code for the biggest city in the time zone.

One of the World Time's biggest selling points is its price. I bought mine from Amazon for $15, only about $6 more than the F-91W. It's almost impossible to beat, and is reliable to boot. Casio claims it has a 10-year battery (depending on usage of the illumination function).

Speaking of illumination, the light on the World Time is much better than that on the F-91W. It has two lights, one in each of the lower corners,…
Post a Comment
Read more