It's easy to sit around and opine about how much better the world would be if government would just get out of the way. The problem is we have very few case studies to draw from. Today I'd like to look at one of those cases, this one from India. From there we'll move over to Finland where they've decided to abandon their century-old welfare state for a "Universal Basic Income." If that sounds a lot like a negative income tax, that's because it's basically the same thing. Every man and woman in Finland would get a check every month from the government (about $900) and would be allowed to spend that money however they prefer. In return, the entire bureaucratic labyrinth of agencies and oversight would be abolished. Now I am no fan of a guaranteed income, but I will admit that if I have to choose between that and what we have now, I think I'd have to side with something similar to a UBI. Today is an episode of grey lines. Rarely is the world of choices as clear as some would make it. What
