In reality garbage men make more money than any basic income would pay. The misconception is that a BI would cause no one to work because they were too busy driving ferrais and eating cuisine with their government money. But we're talking about a basic income here. Any job that pays more than the minimum will make someone seem wealthy when compared to the average person. Any one with a job, even a janitor, would have more money to throw around than most people.
Ex-cons in particular will be in a much better situation as far as we're concerned. There's no constant stress of being expected to find a job in a society that doesn't want to hire them. More importantly, there's less incentive to steal from one of us if criminals have an easy backup plan. People won't have to fake disability or become welfare mothers either, saving society a lot of money.
There are always unintended consequences, but 100% of them aren't bad. A BI will save a lot of money just by eliminating some of the perverse incentives of the current system. It won't necessarily destroy the work incentive either. As the OP pointed out, we'd get a situation where the only people who apply for a job are people who really want them. A government income doesn't destroy natural talent, interest or ability. We could end up putting ourselves into a situation where jobs are things people enjoy moreso than we do today.
One only need look at Germany to refute the strange claim that a basic income would cause nobody to work. It is basically impossible to fall out of the lowest bracket of the German welfare system (~€350/mo for a childless single person, higher if you have kids), and yet Germany has high labor-force participation.
There is probably some level of income at which it would be true. If Germans got €5,000/mo, labor-force participation might be lower. But that is not what people are advocating.
Ex-cons in particular will be in a much better situation as far as we're concerned. There's no constant stress of being expected to find a job in a society that doesn't want to hire them. More importantly, there's less incentive to steal from one of us if criminals have an easy backup plan. People won't have to fake disability or become welfare mothers either, saving society a lot of money.
There are always unintended consequences, but 100% of them aren't bad. A BI will save a lot of money just by eliminating some of the perverse incentives of the current system. It won't necessarily destroy the work incentive either. As the OP pointed out, we'd get a situation where the only people who apply for a job are people who really want them. A government income doesn't destroy natural talent, interest or ability. We could end up putting ourselves into a situation where jobs are things people enjoy moreso than we do today.