The Guaranteed Income Idea

A guaranteed income for every American would eliminate poverty — and it wouldn't destroy the economy

Dylan Matthews, Vox.com - July 23, 2014

I wonder how many disability policy problems would be solved or simplified if every American 18 or over could start each year with, say, $20,000 of guaranteed income? As Dylan Matthews points out, the idea is probably politically infeasible, and for a lot of people morally upsetting, but it’s not economically impossible.

From a disability perspective it would not only give all of us a firm … but not lavish … base to work with. It would also eliminate a lot of the anguish over eligibility we go through to get support. If everyone got a guaranteed income, it wouldn’t matter whether or not we have someone else’s conception of a “qualifying” disability. We might need to prove greater, more specialized need if we needed services in addition to income, but for many of us, that wouldn’t be necessary.

Thoughts?