It was not that kind of redistribution I meantPointedstick wrote:The big difference between the USA and Europe (and other places) is that a lot of our income redistribution takes money away from the poor and gives it to the middle class, upper middle class, and wealthy.
This seems bizarre, but it's culturally in tune with the very American attitude that people get what they deserve. Poor people must be poor because they're lazy and useless, see? So it's considered moral for government to pull money out of their pockets and give it to people who are seen as working harder and contributing more to society.7
...
A major benefit of UBI is that it blows up this insanity, (theoretically) distributing the money fairly and evenly, with no political games, lobbying opportunities to beggar they neighbor, and incentives to make bad decisions.
I am all for UBI:
1. Every unemployed had incentive to find some work, no matter what extent or pay
2. The army of administrators working within the welfare system could be free to do something useful. Or at least fun.
Swedish pre-tax income (chose 20-65):
http://pejl.svt.se/visualisering/inkomster/var-ar-du/
98th percentile 39ksek post tax
46th percentile 17.2ksek (this is minimum wage for uneducated restaurant workers with 6 years experience ... yes! McDonalds employees)
So just about x2 difference between fast food workers and an engineer earning way above his peers.