I support the idea of a UBI because any kind of welfare system with rules as to who is eligible will rule out some people who are very much deserving on a technicality and there are people who are entirely caipable of working but go out of their way to cheat the system.

So in a way I support it for slightly “right” reasons. I want a level playing field, nobody should be fucked from the jump and nobody should have to fight for the very basics, beyond that you should have to work, contribute, create… do something to bring value to the greater world.

It can be either depending on implementation. If created to supplement lacking welfare services I’d say it’s progressive leaning. If used to replace and prevent welfare systems (Andrew Yang style), I’d say it’s pretty libertarian leaning.

American gen-Z punk rock anarchist, for what it’s worth.

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100% right-wing. It’s a bandaid solution to capitalism, to keep it going after mass unemployment and proletarization.

Left-wing is anti-capitalism (don’t even come at me Americans, seriously). UBI is capitalism.

I think it’s fair I should also share where I stand on this. In my OP I wanted to avoid soap-boxing and shaping the replies.

I, (german/elder millennial) used to think of it as right wing. That is partly because the social democrats who define (center-) left for me reject it. And partly because of Milton Friedman and his UBI proposal. Friedman was a noted right-wing economist of the Chicago school and was advisor to both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Nowadays, I think of it as more liberal than either left or right. Like a number of people here said, I see it depending on what other policies surround it.

The reason I asked is, because I have seen a number of posts on this server proposing a UBI as a solution for some social ills; especially feared future mass unemployment. To me, looking to improve existing unemployment benefits and other programs would be a more obvious solution (not least, because it’s more politically achievable).

Lemmy is supposed to be left-wing. Which made me wonder if this indicated a right-ward shift in economic policy preference. So I tried to get at this in a slightly subtle way.

Thanks everyone for indulging me.

Mid 30 Scandinavian right/libertarian leaning.

You can argue for it from both sides.

The right want a small government and to encourage entrepreneurs to take risks. The left want a strong social support system for the unfortunate.

From what I’ve read about it it seems like a good idea. The big question is how you implement it at scale without crashing the current system that works reasonably well.

Theoretically speaking, UBI operates within the structure of capitalism, so it’s right wing by definition.

Practically speaking though you have supporters across the spectrum. On the left as a poverty elevation strategy, and on the libertarian right as an equaliser to enable entrepreneurs to take bigger risks.

On the right the split seems to be between those who are rich, and don’t want to pay tax to fund UBI, and those who aspire to be rich but don’t have the funds or safety net to start a business and see UBI as a way to provide it (without seeing themselves as someone who receives state aid / benefits).

I think it’s left because it’s a social support thing, and I think it’s right because it’s super simple and puts power in the hands of individuals to choose how to spend it.

As a libertarian, I support UBI because I think a society with UBI has more liberty than one without it. I’m a conservative, so I abhor complex government, where petty tyranny can hide under the guise of policy. And UBI is simple.

American: In how left - right is commonly (mis)used here, It would be left-wing.

If you look at from a perspective where left is socialism and right is capitalism, It is slightly right-wing. But when your culture calls anything more than corporate handouts socialism, it seems pretty left-wing.