Here’s What Happens When You Give People Free Money

6 comments

1. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s [decade–in-the-making effort](https://www.wired.com/story/y-combinator-learns-basic-income-is-not-so-basic-after-all/) to understand how handing out free money affects recipients and the broader economy delivered its first big results Monday. OpenResearch found that when it gave some of the poorest Americans $1,000 a month for three years with no strings attached, they put much of the money toward basic needs such as food, housing, and transportation. But what amounted to $36,000 wasn’t enough to significantly improve their physical well-being or long-term financial health, researchers concluded.

   The initial results from what OpenResearch, [an Altman-funded research lab](https://www.wired.com/story/openai-backed-nonprofits-transparency-pledges/), describes as the most comprehensive study on “unconditional cash” show that while the grants had their benefits and weren’t wasted on drugs and booze, they were hardly a panacea for treating some of the biggest concerns about [income inequality](https://www.wired.com/story/gdp-broken-inequality/) and the [prospect of AI and other automation technologies taking jobs](https://www.wired.com/story/ai-impact-on-work-mary-daly-interview/).

   Read the full story: [https://www.wired.com/story/sam-altmans-big-basic-income-study-is-finally-out/](https://www.wired.com/story/sam-altmans-big-basic-income-study-is-finally-out/)

2. Here’s what happens when you give people insufficient free money. #FTFY

3. Per the story: “*they put much of the money toward basic needs such as food, housing, and transportation.*”

   Incidentally, there are historical periods in certain portions of the world throughout time where the general welfare was ‘tenable’. Outside of warfare, they also coincide with some of the greatest periods of educational/scientific achievement.

   Perhaps not as scripted in terms of the target goal/implementation of a direct infusion but there tends to be a net benefit to society historically and per the study with economic liberty rather than just a ‘free money’ grab.

4. It takes resources to ascend Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs towards Self-Actualization.

   If people get more resources, then they move towards self-actualizing.

   I am not sure what the posted study was supposed to achieve?

5. >The initial results from what OpenResearch, [an Altman-funded research lab](https://www.wired.com/story/openai-backed-nonprofits-transparency-pledges/), describes as the most comprehensive study on “unconditional cash” show that while the grants had their benefits and weren’t spent on items such as drugs and alcohol

   You have to carefully choose the recipients, or San Francisco can happen, where people come for the money and then spend it on drugs.

   >Some began considering or pursuing startups. By year three of the payments, “Black recipients were 9 percentage points more likely to report starting or helping to start a business than control participants, and women were 5 percentage points more likely,” according to one of the studies.

   SBA loans and grants serve the same purpose in a smarter and more-targeted manner.

6. Concluding lives were not significantly improved after the money went toward food, housing and transportation is proof giving free money to billionaires turns their brain into mush. Stop giving billionaires free money. They waste it on drugs and booze and are the cause of income inequality.