Through the Permanent Fund, the state of Alaska owns a lot of capital assets. Those assets deliver annual capital income flows to the state, which are then parceled out in equal amounts to the citizens of Alaska through the Permanent Fund Dividend.
A national UBI would work very similarly. The US federal government would employ various strategies (mandatory share issuances, wealth taxes, counter-cyclical asset purchases, etc.) to build up a big wealth fund that owns capital assets.
No, it would not, and for a very basic reason: The Alaska Permanent Fund is based on peaceful transactions among willing counter-parties, whereas the U.S. Federal government owes it very existence to coercion and threats of violence.
The APF takes a portion of the wealth created by extraction of oil owned by the people of Alaska and puts it under the stewardship of investment companies overseen by professionals working for the Fund’s Board of Directors. The investment companies chosen have an ongoing burden to handle the money allocated to them in such a way that it will grow. If they fail they will lose their contracts, so they create carefully balanced portfolios of attractive assets such as stocks, bonds and real estate. No coercion or threats of violence are involved anywhere.
Your use of the words “mandatory” and “taxes” brings the difference into focus. No amount of money laundering through the hands of bureaucrats will cleanse the stain of it having been taken by force. Peaceful transactions between willing counter-parties bearing responsibility for their actions result in thoughtful decisions and, ultimately, growth and productivity that benefits everyone. Stolen money, on the other hand, inevitably gets thrown around carelessly and wasted. One needn’t do more than take a glance at the Federal budget to see this in operation.
You should look for some other way to make your point, because the Alaska Permanent Fund comparison will only convince people who aren’t familiar with it or who don’t understand the difference between honest money and stolen money.
