Stay updated with breaking news from Antony Sammeroff. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
Fictional hedge fund manager Bobby “Axe” Axelrod delivered his own variation of Gordon Gekko’s famous “greed is good” monologue on this week’s Billions. In so doing, it revealed more than just Axe’s ruthlessness. It proved that his idea of what capitalism is, is not the same capitalist theory of economics supported by Adam Smith or Milton Friedman and lauded by conservatives and libertarians.
Many people think that a universal basic income (UBI) would be a good substitute for the welfare state. Under this proposal, each person resident in a country would receive a guaranteed income, sufficient to live at a modest level. People would get the money unconditionally. Unlike welfare payments, the UBI would not be lessened if people earned money in addition to the amount it provided, and, because it is not means tested—absolutely everyone gets it, even billionaires—it requires no complex bureaucracy to administer. The UBI would cost a great deal of money, but its defenders claim tha...