Comment by AnthonyMouse

> I don't think any sort of "UBI" (assuming you mean direct cash payments) is a realistic solution, either. People need to "work" in some organized fashion to avoid the common negative outcomes associated with "welfare" scenarios.

That's actually the point of a UBI.

The problem with existing welfare programs is that they're a poverty trap. If you have no job or a very low paying job, you get benefits. If you make any more money at all, you lose the benefits, and simultaneously you lose the time and expenses of taking the job. If that means you e.g. have to buy a car to go to work, taking a job causes you to lose money. Sometimes you lose money even before your working expenses because overlapping benefits phase outs can consume more than 100% of marginal income.

With a UBI, the amount you get is only the amount you need to avoid starvation and homelessness, but you get that amount unconditionally. If you can find any work at all, you get the UBI and your wages, instead of getting your wages instead of welfare programs. Which allows you to work, even if you're only qualified to do low paying jobs, without being put in a worse position than you'd have been if you just stayed on welfare.