I'm curious what HN readers think the yearly UBI would be (in US dollars) if it were actually implemented?
That works out as follows:
Household Size | Annual UBI | 2014 Poverty
---------------+------------+-------------
1 | $10,400 | $11,670
2 | $14,300 | $15,730
3 | $18,200 | $19,790
4 | $22,100 | $23,850
5 | $26,000 | $27,910
6 | $29,900 | $31,970
7 | $33,800 | $36,030
8 | $37,700 | $40,090
That's a compromise. The UBI is less than poverty level, so that the conservatives can say that no one is getting a free ride, and people will still need to work to get by. But it's still around 90% of poverty line, so that the liberals can say that the government is still providing a great safety net.There are 123M households in the US, for a population of 319M, so the total cost would be $200 * 123M + $75 * ( 319M - 123M ) per week, which is $39.3G, or $2.1 trillion per year.
The U.S. had official income of $3 trillion in 2014, so UBI would cost about 68% of the federal budget.