The counterplan is comparatively the most effective strategy for solving inequality and promoting social cohesion. Basic Income fails.

Yameen, Senior analyst at Ernst & Young, “For a Universal Job Guarantee,” American Affairs Winter Volume I, Number 4, 2017 https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2017/11/universal-job-guarantee/

The Politics of a Basic Income

Political Concerns and Sustainability

In its politics, a JG is a superior option to BI in many respects. Today, people make a mental distinction between what they perceive as “welfare” and “entitlements.” “Welfare” is perceived as frivolous and unearned, but “entitlements” are viewed in the language of rights and obligations. Food stamps are seen as “welfare,” but Social Security is seen as an entitlement, since people pay into it. By providing goods to workers as a payment for adding value to necessary public projects, policy-makers can increase the likelihood that a program is viewed as a genuine entitlement. An unconditional, no-strings-attached cash grant to everyone is much more likely to be viewed as “welfare” and is therefore harder to defend in the political arena.

Related to the welfare-entitlement dichotomy are the power dynamics between different class groups. At a time of rising social polarization, new social programs should strive to balance and raise interclass, national solidarity. An unconditional BI that divides working-class people into those who work, and those who choose not to, would raise these divisions. These nonworkers would also be more beholden to the elite classes and could, therefore, be more of an impediment to further reform.42

A JG program, however, can build supporting coalitions across industrial and regional lines. Because the JG program can use private contractors to support various public projects, it can secure the support of various industries to help build and sustain the program. A BI program would face much greater difficulties because its benefits are diffuse across the general population and, therefore, less likely to create a focused constituency.

Regions of the United States most affected by long-term employment problems, such as the Rust Belt, would benefit most from a targeted JG program, designed to build human and social capital in the most blighted regions.43 By building public projects in these regions and coordinating their efforts through the local government and public-private partnerships, the federal government can foster a culture of production and work to build the social capital needed to create a thriving commercial ecosystem.

A BI, however, would not be targeted to address any of the above concerns. In fact, its key mechanism for improving welfare, individual freedom, would likely lead to relocation of individuals out of these blighted communities, thereby reducing social capital and exacerbating the prevailing problems.