Member-only story
Universal Welfare
The former name of UBI
Western countries have developed a myriad of social programs to financially help citizens, most of whom are not wealthy, through various stages in their lives. Old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, welfare, health-care assistance, child-care assistance, disability assistance, housing assistance, and educational assistance are all examples of various social programs. However well-meaning a social program may be, a social program always has three inherent drawbacks that limit its effectiveness.
First, any social program requires a small army of civil servants and substantial office space to administer the program properly. It is not unreasonable to assume that 10% of total cost of a social program is the necessary bureaucracy. Even if this 10% is putting the other 90% into good places, that 10% is still a resource that has been taken out of the economy.
Second, social programs are guided by legislation, which determines the beneficiaries and benefits. Regardless of how well constructed this legislation is, there will always be citizens “falling through the cracks” who really need the benefit but can’t get them. And there will also be dishonest citizens legally taking advantage of the program when they really don’t need it.
