Let’s talk about UBI and living wages…

In this video, the speaker addresses a common argument against Universal Basic Income (UBI) — that providing people with a fixed monthly income would disincentivize work.

Although the speaker is not an outright supporter of UBI, they find this argument deeply flawed and harmful because it perpetuates damaging stereotypes about poor and minimum wage workers. The video dismantles the notion that people would stop working if given a basic income, illustrating that people generally seek to improve their lives through work, education, and career advancement, regardless of receiving supplemental income.

The speaker highlights the stagnation of wages despite rising productivity and emphasizes that minimum wage workers are often trapped in poverty not because of laziness or poor character, but due to systemic economic exploitation. The argument against UBI and wage increases often serves to justify paying workers less than a living wage, forcing them to rely on government assistance, which in turn subsidizes corporate profits.

Ultimately, the video calls for recognizing poverty as a lack of cash, not character, and urges society to stop blaming those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder for structural inequalities.