Key Facts
The Universal Basic Income
Some people are suggesting that we create a new government program called Universal Basic Income or “UBI," which would give an annual cash grant, typically about $10,000, to all American citizens above a certain age.
Cost of the Universal Basic Income
Unfortunately, adding a UBI on top of existing programs is prohibitively costly.
Substituting a Universal Basic Income
The only way the U.S. government could implement a significant UBI would be to substitute it for all other safety net programs – including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. But that would then create huge numbers of big winners and big losers.
Negative Consequences
Universal basic income would either be far too costly or it would produce massive redistributive effects that would hurt the poor and elderly.