After explaining what a universal basic income is and how it works, the third and final part of my series on a universal basic income is to explore whether or not a universal basic income is feasible in the United States of America.
Earlier this week, I explained what a universal basic income. In this post I will explain how it works.
Recently, an old idea is becoming more popular: a universal basic income. A universal basic income, or citizen's dividend, is a set amount of money that the government pays every person above the age of majority, employed or unemployed.
Right now, much of the United States is in the grip of an unprecedented blast of cold air from the Arctic, leading to dangerous subzero temperatures. As temperatures plummet, some climate change skeptics are using the weather to "disprove" climate change supporters. There are so many problems with this idea, but a few come to mind first:
1. You cannot use anecdotal evidence when it comes to science. You are attempting to use one event to disprove a global change. Just because there are a few days of cold does not mean that global warming is automatically false. 2. This weather event may actually be caused by global warming Global warming can be a somewhat misleading term. That is why most scientists refer to it as climate change. The world may be getting warmer, but environments are changing, and more extreme weather, not just warmer weather, may be the result. 3. Climate change has almost been proven beyond a doubt While scientists can be incredibly sure about certain theories, they cannot always be 100% positive about them. However, the overwhelming amount of evidence is in favor of global warming. Here is a good example in order to help people understand how sure scientists are: One day, you wake up with a large lump on your throat. You go around to 100 doctors and ask each one what it is. 97 of the doctors are each 95% certain that the lump is a malignant, cancerous tumor that needs to be removed soon. 3 of the doctors are 100% certain that the lump is just swollen and that you are perfectly fine and it will go away in time. Which group of doctors do you trust? Overall, you can't use a single weather event to state that something as widespread as climate change is or is not real. Unfortunately, people continue to listen to climate change skeptics instead of the massive scientific consensus in favor of the existence of climate change. |