In every single article you read about UBI (universal basic income) you read about all the wonderful utopian possibilities. I have not seen one article mention what I believe will be the truth. The governments of the world will use it as a threat against behavior they want modified or won’t tolerate.
If you get a few DUIs what happens? They take away your license because driving is a privilege. Well, imagine being poor and needing the monthly UBI money and the government tells you that if you do this specific act you will lose your UBI.
It will be subtle at first and resemble some typical government hoop-jumping bureaucracy. Then a slippery slope of things you cannot do will slowly erode your rights. Did you attend a protest? In the U.S., the First Amendment grants you the right to do that but UBI is not a right it is a privilege so you lose your UBI.
He who has the gold makes the rules.
I could see it being realistically denied to convicted criminals (felonies), because the thinking will be, “If you’re a good citizen participating in society, then you’re entitled to UBI, but when you break that social contract, you lose that benefit”. And when you’re sent to jail/prison, the State becomes responsible for you anyways, so I’m sure the idea would be to just funnel your UBI towards your incarceration costs.
It being used against citizens for political reasons seems like something Republicans would do, so I think it would be necessary to build in protections to prevent UBI from being denied citizens for any reason other than maybe a felony conviction.
Why would a felony conviction disqualify you? In many places, getting caught with weed would be enough to disqualify you.
Perhaps don’t give the money to people while they are in prison, since all of their needs should be fulfilled already. But disqualifying someone after their time is served defeats the purpose of UBI itself and of prison as a means of reform.