is that it will cause inflation that will 100% go to the wealthiest people on the planet
It will only cause inflation if you print the money. If the supply of money goes up then value of money goes down.
I just am getting older and coming to the conclusion that the non-wealthy get fucked every time anything that is meant to help us is implemented.
I hear you there. We have a corrupt political class to blame for that. Which is why I advocate for the Forward party, which aims to break up the duopoly of the political system. It’s main policy goals are Nonpartisan primaries and Ranked Choice Voting.
Yes, regardless of if the money gets printed or just ends up in people’s bank accounts, as the amount of money in circulation increases, inflation will follow. The only other way to get money in people’s accounts is to take it from other accounts, like taxing the crap out of the wealthiest people, purchases over a certain threshold, etc. Then it wouldn’t lead to inflation, just redistribution of wealth. I’m not an expert on economies, and I’m sure the semantics of what I’m saying isn’t quite right, but I think you know what I mean.
Yeah you have a good grasp of the ideas involved.
as the amount of money in circulation increases
If you don’t print money to fund a UBI, money in circulation stays the same so there is no inflation.
In fact in the few widescale UBI experiments that have taken place, inflation decreased. Alaska has had a form of a basic income, funded by oil revenues on from state land, since 1982. Ever since, Alaska has had LOWER inflation than the entire U.S. Their term it is the Permanent Fund dividend and it managed by a state owned corporation.
As an aside Economics is a social science, and is imperfect because it cant be replicated. The term for this is Replication crisis. Interesting wikipedia article on that.
I’m not understanding the need for printed money to increase inflation. Wouldn’t direct deposit to people’s checking accounts have the same effect as printed currency?
