Basic income, as you describe it here… what you’re talking about (at a level of $5000) is really not a basic income. It would be impossible to survive upon in most areas. Even if you were in a sufficiently depressed area to make it work, it would be a bleeding-edge tough life to lead. So it’s a (very) small windfall — which is something else entirely than “basic income.”

The kicker is that technology is going to render all this moot very shortly. AI and robotics are already beginning to change the economic picture, which will, as it progresses, in turn see to it that the people are in a position to live and pursue their own interests, rather than being forced to work to survive.

The problem is that it’s going to be a very disruptive process getting from here to there. And $5000… that’s not going to make it any easier. If you’re employed, $5000 doesn’t make much of a difference. If you’re not employed, it doesn’t make nearly enough difference. The only real use for it that I can see is that it establishes the idea such that the ‘let them die’ contingent in congress and the voting public has a little time to get used to the idea before the work-for-survival economy completely crashes and burns prior to reinventing itself.