I saw an interesting thread going on this topic on another site and wanted to put it here for the wisdom of our group to weigh in. I have no crystal ball in terms of will we or won't we end up with some form of Universal Base Income (UBI) in either the short or long-term future, but I think there's going to be a lot of discussion about this topic in the next election cycle.

A few questions to think on:

1) How would a UBI of $1,000 per month per adult age 18+0 affect your family/household?

2) How would the above UBI impact the costs of housing (buying or renting) in your community?

3) What would be your strategy for rental pricing and how would it be impacted if the UBI above were implemented?

1) It wouldn't affect us

2) It would cause the price of everything to increase

3) As now, I would just fluctuate with the market rates and adjust accordingly

Sid,

Roy, yes, you have the gist of it.

UBI is also called a "freedom dividend" by its supporters who say everyone in the USA should benefit to some extent from the wealth and prosperity of living in a free, capitalist society. One could compare it to the oil checks for citizens of Alaska. Or not. ;-) I'm not diving into the politics.

There are Pros and Cons obviously, both practical and moral. I'm not interested in diving into those so much as I am what we think the real world impact on our lives and businesses would be.

RB makes a point that this is a big "what if", but I think there is some value to talking about it.

As JB says, I think most of the $$$ would provide a short-term boost to lower income houses, but eventually most of us here would adjust our business model to capture as much additional profit as possible. Other savvy business owners/investors would do the same.

sid,

Sid,

This craziness will result in higher prices everywhere. Not simply because of greed as some think but because of simple supply and demand. Just like when I'm the 60's, the women's pin movement ( like it or not) said that women should work and not just stay home. Ok, so many did. What happened is that households then had 2 incomes --more money! Many of them decided that now they could afford nicer neighborhoods, better and larger houses. So with this extra money they bought nicer and bigger houses in better areas.

It's always the same. Those who have more money decide to improve their situations. They have more and are willing to pay more for things they want.

This dumb idea will result in the same thing.

If my tenants had an extra $2000 per month (for a couple), they would likely look for bigger better places in nicer areas. Every group would do the same, even those who were almost homeless.

Sid,

Housing? I vote for UBR - Universal Base Rent. All my $450 and $500 would now be equal with the $1000 houses and their UBI check will cover it, comrade.

Every person - same income, every rent the same. 3 roommates, $1000 each per month. Freedom from financial stress FOR ALL!

Ultimately people would just blow it.

Tenants would possibly move to bigger homes or even buy a home. They would eventually loose those homes to foreclosure and then we could buy them.

I would have to increase rents to cover the taxes that would be taken to pay for it. Just another scheme that puts money in one pocket by taking it out of the other pocket. Someday these guys will figure out that taxes are passed on to tenants so it's a zero sum game.

There of course will be inefficiencies in the process, government run so lots of new paper pushing bureaucrats will get come on board eating a slice of the money loop.

With all that extra money flowing into and out of tenants hands there will be more risk and likely more possible reward. Would just have to figure out how to capitalize on it.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in.

MikeA, I have seen others ask that same question about turning it into an annuity. It would be interesting to contemplate. Seems like for some that would be contrary to the whole purpose of UBI, so I wonder if it would be prohibited in some or all circumstances?

Brad20K...UBR, I like it! All my rents double but my mortgages stay the same.

RichE, love the thoughts about how politicians characterize the world as static. I don't think they believe it for a minute, but it's how they sell their B.S. to their voting based who does think that way. "If I just get $1,000 more life will be grand" as the price of a Big Mac goes up to $15. I wonder if they would pair UBI with capital control and price caps, further exacerbating the problem?

Opinionated....true. Gimmies seems to invite scammers.

WMH...yep. I think the first time I heard that was from John T. Reed. I know he didn't invent it, but he fleshed it out with numerous examples.