But the truth is you don't have the right to life and liberty unless you can afford it.

One in seven Americans lives in poverty. That means they can't afford basic needs like food and shelter.

But we have in abundance resources.

We throw away forty percent of the food that we produce and there are six vacant homes for each homeless American.

The issue is simply people just don't have access to money.

Thanks to globalization automation they're not enough jobs for everybody to earn a living.

So why don't we just give everybody the money they need to live?

Sounds crazy I know. But in Switzerland they are actually proposing the idea to give each citizen $2500 a month for nothing, no strings attached. it's called in unconditional basic income.

I think it's a good idea and here are 10 reasons:

Reason number one: Health. Most what we're all stressed out about is money.

That stress leads to poor mental health which lead to poor physical health, both of which leads to medical bills...

which leads to even more stress about money!

This survival anxiety can be eliminated with a basic income so people can focus their mental energy on something other than worrying about money. Imagine what people can accomplish.

Number two: Crime will decrease.

People are less likely to sell harmful drugs or steal if they don't have to.

"I steal only what I can't afford." (that's everything...)

Reason number three: It's ethical.

Everyone agrees it's messed up for SeaWorld to deprive the whales of food just to get them to do tricks.

But we treat humans the same way.

It's unethical and unnecessary to force people to do tricks to survive, when there's more than enough resources to go around.

Reason number four: Productivity.

You might be worried that if people didn't have to work to earn money to survive, things wouldn't get done.

But people want to do things. Yes some people will quit their jobs if they don't have to work them.

But it's good for these people to quit their jobs because let's face it...

If they hate their job they're probably doing a shitty job at it.

Them leaving opens up a job for somebody who does want it.

Everybody that's working a job is going to be doing so because they choose to.

So productivity would increase.

Because people who like what they're doing are better at it and more efficient

When people don't have to work a job they can spend their time doing

something they find meaningful whether it's volunteering at an animal shelter,

teaching, raising their own children, programming to open source software

that's gonna change the friggin World.

Number 5: Fair wages.

If people are depending on a job for survival

they have to take any job available.

They can never negotiate a fair wage.

Companies will only offer fair wages if people have a choice not to work.

Reason number six: Efficiency. Welfare in the US is a complex maze of 126 separate anti-poverty programs.

That's 126 bureaucratic departments reviewing, rejecting, re-reviewing and maybe accepting the same applicants every other week.

"All this for a loaf of bread?"

What a waste of time and money. Cut out the bureaucracy and just give the money to everyone.

Reason number seven: Transparency.

One basic income program is so simple and so efficient that it's effectively transparent.

So government would have a lot less bureaucracy to hide behind.

Reason number eight: It's affordable.

To pay each adult US citizen one thousand dollars a month it would cost $2.8 trillion a year.

The US government spends more than twice that: $6 trillion a year.

So it's not a question of whether we can afford it. We have the money.

It's just a matter spending our budget more effectively.

I'd much rather my tax dollars go to my own and my fellow citizens survival rather than pay for the poorest of our nation to be shipped off to another country to throw grenades and get shot at!

Reason #9: The Economy. When people have no money people can't spend money.

And when there's no spending businesses fail and jobs are lost. Basic Income provides people with money to spend.

That would stimulate the economy benefiting everybody from business owners to their employees.

Reason number ten: It would effectively eliminate poverty!

Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you think.

Why you do or why don't support it. Let's have a discussion.