Honestly, I don&#x27;t think that people sitting around is the problem with basic income - it&#x27;s funding it.<p>Say you are going to give each of the 320M inhabitants of the US $10k per year (that&#x27;s about the poverty threshold). That would be a cost of $3.2 Trillion per year, or about 50% the total government revenue (federal, state, &amp; local combined). I just cannot see a future where the US raises taxes by a number that anywhere close to 50%.<p>Source: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usgovernmentrevenue.com&#x2F;current_revenue" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usgovernmentrevenue.com&#x2F;current_revenue</a>