With UBI you get a labor shortage though as less people will work, and the people that do work will be demanding higher wages like you said, pushing up the price of the finished goods.
People will work if they get a good enough offer. That a company’s competitors hope that slavery returns after UBI is implementented is an opportunity for those companies who understand that it will stay forever and hire the people they need to take consumers money. Where imports from slave labour nations is an option, as it mostly is today even with tariffs, then imports can displace higher housing spending. Immigration, AI, Robotics are all alternatives if no one wants to work, and if no one wants to work, everyone is happy to not have to work, and still get cheap enough products.
The other benefit of it is that we as a society can decide on what work is useful and not the market.
Market is absolutely better at deciding what is useful. There still can be functions that are best/only provided by government, and need staff, but those should be proposed government functions/programs because the programs are good. A job guarantee is first you must sacrifice 8 hours per day, then we decide what’s best for you to spend your 8 hours on.
caring for your dependents at home
UBI allows for caring for people/dependents. You don’t need unionized child/dependent care. If I am caring for someone full time already, by all means, bring your dependents to me for extra income for me. UBI can make me more friendly to community on setting a fair price compared to slavery, union supported slavery, economy that forces extortionist pricing for care.
It’ll be hard to build actually affordable housing if all the government budget is going to UBI and construction workers now cost twice as much in wages.
Social housing in much of the world is “income based rent” that rewards getting a 3 bedroom space even if you are single. Rules disallow sharing, and there may be other stupid/oppressive rules too. The best bargain is to only earn grey/black market income to make the housing free. UBI is a far better housing solution. I previously mentioned sharing, or if you are not interested in work, moving to a community where work availability is a non-concern. Expensive housing is exclusively because work opportunities are awesome, or it is a tourist paradise (often convenient for part time work). Welfare/unemployment insurance rules often stipulate that you are not allowed to move.
UBI works on the assumption that there’s not enough work to be done and that a sizable chunk of the population can stop working and we’ll be fine.
UBI only needs to work on principle that you deserve an equal share of tax revenue. Our slavery system works on principle that Oligarchists best rewards are only from slavery, and that paying higher wages to attract people with “fuck you” money cannot possibly be profitable. It’s an argument for even harsher slavery conditions. Oligarchs, and only oligarchs, must decide the only possible economic path.
we need to do more to transition to net zero and figure out how to sequester millions of tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere, that’s not going to happen by itself.
Concern for human sustainability only occurs when your next voting decisions is not based on inflation resulting from yet another failed war on Russia. Poverty and stress makes you full tropic thunder, and short sighted. War mongering Zionist supremacism pillaging of your country is too hard to see, if Biden caused egg prices is all the media tells you to base your vote on. Cooperation with Russia is needed to get global warming constrained. Threatening Russia just burns more diesel.
fun fact on definition of productivity: Revenue/labour cost. Inflation can be either profit inflation or wage/cost inflation. In general, if wage inflation is higher than inflation, then workers are better off no matter the inflation rate. Then inflation is costing the owner and consumer classes. Another fun fact: The Federal reserve is a demonic bankster organization that strives to eliminate wage increases, under a pseudo-slavery system. Interest rates are increased to prevent new housing and other business growth to prevent more hiring to drive up wages even more.
If productivity and inflation are critical economic drivers, then we should explicitly support slavery. More whippings will make you work harder. Lower pay will reduce inflation and boost productivity. The near slavery system (you called it capitalism) is as long as there are 100 applicants for every job opening, then the system is working and under control. Adam Smith just advocated for free and fair markets, and there is still a market if there are only 2 applicants per job opening or 5 employers are coveting to hire you away from what you are currently doing.
Sure UBI will tend towards wage inflation. It doesn’t stop profit inflation either. The consumer class is both better off with more disposible income, and having opportunities to compete for idleness. They can compete with higher wage earners or ownership class. As an example, most people think UBI would increase people’s demand for more housing space. Means more profit opportunity from land/ownership, more renovation work to be done, but also empowers people with free time and UBI to qualify for loans to renovate properties themselves from youtube videos. Bottom line is if housing is too expensive from profit and wage inflation, then you will have to do it yourself, but somehow housing demand and work will get balanced, but including profit/ROI for ownership class. Markets do that very well. You will buy a plunger to unclog your toilet if all plumbers charge $1000 to do it, and then become a plumber (or toilet unclogger) to charge others $900.
if wages and profits grow by 10x, then so does tax revenue and basis to increase freedom dividends by 10x. Inflation is a market mechanism. Productivity is unimportant. Humanist economics are abundance and production, but productivity through slavery is not an appropriate path towards it. Fair labour markets are.
It does, but doesn’t have to. Capital needs cooperation in order to extract profits. The bargaining power of time and work increased by UBI means “less control by capitalists”. It can also challenge ownership class by competing with it through more lending power, and the contribution of worker time towards share of future profits instead of “guaranteed high hourly wage”
UBI is a better individual empowerment than unions. There were strikes under Biden due to a good economy even if oligarchs successfully convinced electorate that it was shit. Strikes not happening now because when econony turns to shit, more blowjobs for oligarchs instead of striking against them is path to survival. Note also, import theory of currency devaluation is proven false by Trump’s forbidding of imports. Globalization has always meant that $ are not destroyed, and circulate back to US, unless the US is a shithole and there is no reason to support its sustainability, and fewer $ to give/lend back.
Anyone who rants about inflation or productivity as an argument against UBI is ranting in favour of slavery and cannibalism. You are favouring desperation and extreme competition for survival just among the worker class.