Economist: Zuckerberg's Universal Income Proposal A 'Terrible Idea'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--Economist Chris Butler took issue with Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's commencement speech at Harvard where he suggested a universal income for everyone to provide a safety net, telling Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT that he doesn't think the proposal has any merit.
"I can't believe how much traction the idea of universal basic income has gotten...Basically, the government would promise everybody some kind of standard salary. It truly is socialism taken to the nth degree. Basically, the proposals that I have actually seen, it's something like $2500 a month for everybody and you can work, you can not work if you just want to live off of the $2500...That's the basic income part of it. It means that $2500 or whatever it is should be enough to buy you groceries and rent, whatever the basic necessities of life are at the time."
Butler said there is no feasible way to implement any type of universal income and thinks the ramifications would be a disaster.
"This is absolutely a crazy idea that hasn't been thought out for more than five minutes...It's horrible. It's a terrible idea. If you actually just did the math, you'd have to ask yourself, how are we going to pay for that? Then, you'd also wonder, who in their right mind would ever get out of the nest? If you're going to give me $3500 a month when I'm 22, I can guarantee you I will not be motivated to get an education or take risk in the economy."
