UBI would certainly make the life of early retirees easier, but the big question of how to pay for it can't be ignored.
How much more in Taxes are you willing to pay, not have others pay, to see something like this implemented.
If I recall correctly, Finland's experiment is ending. So won't know for awhile yet, after all of the data has been parsed and dissected, if it was successful.
I pay quite a bit in taxes as it is. Have a small company that also supports 4 other families who also pay taxes. I feel like I'm doing my part as it is.
I've worked 2 to 3 jobs when I needed to. And my wife worked when she needed to. Is that a bad thing?
Paying for anything is always a concern, but in my opinion, much of our financial system is a ponzi scheme to begin with. It's just one where they need to keep it honest enough that people partake. Essentially we have been borrowing from the future to pay for now forever.
Regarding ways to pay for it, one theory is to have an automation tax where the company pays a tax for the automation that took place. This could be related to the number of workers displaced, but if instead of paying someone $40k a year you might have a machine and a tax on that machine of $4,000 per year, the company is still better off paying for the automation and the tax for the displaced worker.
This really isn't a discussion about how to pay for it, but rather how do we handle it as a population when over the course of the next 10-30 years, instead of having 60% of people working it drops down to maybe 30-40%.
What do we do with the 60-70% who simply don't have jobs available to them?
When automation gets to this point, some new jobs will be created but in the name of progress, it's not going to be 1 for 1, otherwise the market wouldn't drive the change.
So when this happens, we'll have a financial burden to these people through healthcare and food stamps whether well thought out or not. Or we will have an uprising at worst as this slowly hits the tipping point of what the then majority won't feel is moral.
I guess to me it isn't a question of how do we pay for it. It's a question of how to we best prepare for it so the the system is efficient, makes sense and as affordable as possible while keeping people from uprising.