I&#x27;m intrigued by the idea of a basic income, but usually when people begin to talk about it, I see a certain argument presented.<p>A simplified version of the argument is as follows: &quot;In a free market, if a certain subset of people start making significantly more money than they used to, the demand for things that this subset of people couldn&#x27;t afford before is going to increase substantially. This increase in demand will inevitably lead to higher prices for the things that they can suddenly afford, which will essentially put them back where they started.&quot;<p>Can anyone briefly explain to me why this argument is wrong? On the surface, it seems fairly reasonable. For example, the ridiculous cost of education is often attributed to the creation of federal student loans. Unless that attribution is also mistaken, it seems to represent a valid example of this phenomenon.<p>Please note that I&#x27;m not condoning or even agreeing with this argument. Its just something I&#x27;ve been wondering about for a while. I figure there are plenty of smart people here that can probably explain it to me.