I said this way earlier in the thread, but it bears repeating. For most of the 20th century the rich were TERRIFIED that the hoi poloi were going to be coming for their money Soviet style. They haven't been terrified by that nightmare for thirty plus years. Fear of a worse alternative is what motivates the 1%-ers to accede to changes, and changes in this regard don't happen when the 1%-ers are fighting them tooth and nail. The outlook will shift pretty noticeably when there are enough people milling about with nothing to do that the 1%-ers are concerned for the safety of their Kandinskys and Picassos.
is this a let them eat cake scenario you're projecting? do we solve this without violence? please say yes.
Make the UBI inflation adjusted every year. The point of UBI is to make sure the working class keep their wealth (hopefully, gain wealth) through the automation and technological revolution, not for the ultra-rich to play games with the value of the dollar to ensure they successfully funnel all value from the working class.
I'm thinking like the stuff you see on TV - a whole bunch of out of work people march, police shoot tear gas, people get arrested. Maybe some people getting hit with riot sticks. The kind of thing that would make you worry about what's going to happen if you dont make concessions, but hopefully not anything actually violent. The wealthy are going to do what's best for the wealthy. But there is a point where acceding to a 15% tax raise to calm down the masses seems like a better bet than gambling all or nothing that a bunch of desperate people who can't feed their kids aren't going to cross a line. The European monarchs who lost their heads in the last century seemed to be really into that "divine right of kings" stuff. When mobs came screaming at them for bread, instead of giving them bread, or trying to calm them down they were often offended and called the gendarmes to come crack heads. Not a very practical understanding of the power of mobs. At least in the last century, Americans were far more practical and tried to cut deals to placate angry poor people.
