In class today, we discussed recent presidential drop-out Andrew Yang’s idea of universal basic income. There are many people who consider this idea to be an extension of communism, as it would mean that a lot of the economy and payroll of people would be controlled by the government. However, there are some important differences between the UBI and communism.
Communism is focused on completely turning over all economic factors to the government, and allowing them to completely control everything to do with the economy and people’s livelihoods. This relies heavily on the integrity of the leader, because if the leader is corrupt, then it turns into a dictatorship, instead of a communist community.
The UBI idea does take some ideas from communism, but there are also major differences. The idea that it takes from communism is making sure that no one is completely without income. This makes sure that no one goes hungry or freezes to death. However, that is where its parallels to communism stop. There is still a very strong capitalist part of this, in that you still are able to work your way to make whatever you earn, just as it is now. The only difference is that this idea tries to help mitigate poverty.