On UBI

UBI is an idea that’s gained significant popularity over the last few years, but it’s certainly nothing particularly original. The idea is to pay every single person the same amount on a regular basis with the end goal of replacing the benefits system and thus eliminating that bureaucracy. The reason it’s particularly relevant at the moment is that Sheffield Council have voiced their support for a trial scheme in the city.

I used to be more sympathetic to it, and when I was, I thought it seemed like quite an efficient way of giving everyone a safety net, cutting down on pointless, thankless jobs and therefore reducing crime and other social ills.

I no longer think this; personally I think the biggest risk with UBI is that it is hijacked by the right wing - and this will be helped by those on the left who say things like “not left or right, but forward” in an attempt to win more people over to the cause, but without thinking about the effect these people might have on the idea.

The right wing version of UBI will - for starters - not be enough to live on, and it will fall especially short if you have any kind of disability. This version of UBI will destroy social services, pensions, hospitals and schools. It will also resurrect the monstrous corpse of Milton Friedman. The corpse of Milton Friedman will screech the word ‘freedom’ with enough volume to shatter every NHS filling within a hundred miles. It will then tunnel back into the dirt, leaving a disturbed patch of earth in the shape of the liberal democrats’ logo.

Even if we go with the non-necromantic version of UBI, it’s not clear that the policy works. There have been numerous experiments over the years, but none has been entirely conclusive. The best information we have is that only an unsustainably large UBI budget would effect any real change. None of the proponents seem to have been able to agree on a figure, but we can fairly safely say it’s unlikely to be on the high end of the suggestions if it ever comes to pass.

it is also - I think peculiarly - unremarked upon that the shrinking of the benefits bureaucracy will have negative effects in itself. Currently 85,000 people work for the DWP, and quite a few of these people would lose their jobs so that money can be paid to the rich as well as the poor.

UBI, even if it were implemented by a left party and with enough funding to make a difference, does not achieve anything; it isn’t going to eliminate or even lessen class antagonisms, and it certainly isn’t distribution “from those according to their ability, to those according to their need”.

In terms of guaranteeing housing, food, education, transport and healthcare, which are presumably the aims of UBI, nationalisation and redistribution are far better ways of achieving these aims. There’s no reason anyone needs to own more than one house, certainly not an entire food distribution network. It should be placed under democratic control for the benefit of all.