20k is not poverty. I live in a luxury townhouse on Vancouver Island (aka paradise), paying $600/month for half the rent. My total outgoings are probably about $1200/month, so $20k would be more than enough to live on. Yes, you would pay more in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver or Victoria, but if you're not working then you wouldn't need to live in those expensive cities.
I think $15k would be a better figure, as it wouldn't let you live so comfortably and therefore there would still be an incentive to go out and work.
McDonalds and Walmart would probably go out of business, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We would be left with higher end restaurants where people are paid a good salary to work somewhere that they enjoy.
Wait, we should push the poor to spend at Whole Foods and dine at fine restaurants? How is making them spend a significantly higher percentage of their income on food a good thing again?
I think he meant that nobody would choose to work at places like Walmart and McDonalds, when they would be provided the same wage already; not that nobody would eat there.
Though, when people aren't having to work dead-end jobs to survive, maybe they could take time to prepare food properly and cheaply instead of buying "convenient" $5 burgers?
Yes, you have a good point. I think the price of everything would probably go up, so you might find that the basic income is suddenly not enough to live on.
I think it's impossible to know for sure whether basic income would be financially viable unless you actually implement it.
I think $15k would be a better figure, as it wouldn't let you live so comfortably and therefore there would still be an incentive to go out and work.
McDonalds and Walmart would probably go out of business, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We would be left with higher end restaurants where people are paid a good salary to work somewhere that they enjoy.