What happens when a recipient of funds from a government-provided?
Guaranteed minimum wage is not the same as Universal Basic Income. It is still based in the current work-based paradigm where it is assumed that employment is the right way for people to acquire a living and work that we do for each other is not valued. Under GMW proposals it is usually assumed that people will be expected to do "work" that is found for them. Universal Basic Income is based on the assumption that our earth can and should provide an adequate living for everyone. Giving everyone money will help to direct the economy to produce for everyone's needs instead of mostly for the wants and needs of the rich. It will redefine what work is of value and should be allowed to reveal that some work is actually not valuable enough to provide a "living wage" for those who do it. People will be freed to do work that they value and to care for each other. The question can apply to either GMW, UBI or also to existing welfare programmes. My experience with people on low incomes is that most of them are amazingly good at managing their money. Problems arose in the past when it was mostly men employed as the women were at home looking after the children. When the money was given to the man at work there were some who drank or gambled it away before it got to the family. Generally welfare payments are now paid into a bank account so there may be less opportunity for this. Then as now family, friends and neighbours often help people through the results of bad decisions or poor budgetting. There are plenty of middle class people who have unwisely taken out big mortgages or invested in fraudulent schemes and find themselves losing their jobs or having big health emergencies that leave them struggling to pay for their shelter, food and utilities. There is no reason to suppose that there will be more people making stupid decisions than there are at present and a regular payment that does not require traumatic interviews to qualify would mean that the results of many unwise decisions would only have to be suffered until the next payment came through at the end of the week. Some countries currently provide emergency benefits in addition to regular welfare and sometimes this is in the form of loans which may never be repaid particularly if the person ceases to be entitled to the regular welfare. Loans of this nature could continue under an Unconditional Income and would be more likely to be repaid. Also family, friends and neighbours would have more time and be more likely to be aware of people in need if they were not desparately hanging on to low paid long hours of work.