This is very true. Honestly asking: Is it working? I haven't seen lots of data on the topic. I also know the climate and endless day/night issues weigh into this too. I'm curious if academia sees this as a success or not.
If people wanted to save, why wouldn't they do so privately? (And if they don't want to save, why should the government force them? Isn't a democracy supposed to reflect what the people want?)
> If people wanted to save, why wouldn't they do so privately?
The "why" is complicated, but the "they generally don't" is not.
> Isn't a democracy supposed to reflect what the people want?
People wanted slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, etc. There aren't many pure democracies out there as pure mob rule isn't super awesome in the long run.
Alaska's dividend is particularly odd given they were proposing 40% budget cuts to the state university system recently in order to keep the fund payouts up.
> Dunleavy, who took office in December and is an outspoken supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, has called for major cuts in higher education, health care and other social programs as he pushes to sharply raise the annual oil revenue dividend that Alaska pays to nearly every state resident.
In general, just giving people money should be the null hypothesis for how to spend, and any government spending programme should be measured against this 'placebo'. Instead of against the weaker standard of 'does the spending do any good at all?'
I have no clue whether those programs he wants to slash are any good or bad.
Higher education is mostly a signalling game. So very useful for individuals to spend on; but a zero sum game at the level of society.
> People wanted slavery, segregation, Jim Crow, etc. There aren't many pure democracies out there as pure mob rule isn't super awesome in the long run.
I'm not a fan of democracy either. But lots of people are. And it beats some of the alternatives.
The dividend is not particularly large as far as basic income goes, but it's an inflation-proof setup. The principal is currently somewhere around $67b. With about 700k residents in AK, that's about $90k per citizen.
Now that the annual oil revenue has declined, there's debate every year about what to do with that principal. AK has been cutting services the last few years, even though we have almost $70b in the bank.
