This is something that's always seemed like a cool idea to me. I hear a lot about the trend of 'bullshit jobs,' antiquated 40 hour work week, etc. And I agree with all of these points. But my undercooked understanding of economics always brings up the question in my brain: wouldn't an unconditional basic income just raise prices of food, housing, etc. relative to the income given out?
it is important to remember that every economic system exists solely in the minds of those who operate within it and that they have no more substance than we give them in our policies and our processes. There were numerous times in history when all debt was wiped out and everyone started fresh. There were also numerous times when charging interest was a criminal act. As I posted above, if human beings can stick people in a canister and fire it to moon and even bring them back safely, dealing with all the real world ramifications involved, there is nothing we cannot do with a economic system that exists primarily in our minds and practices.
Economics is half philosophy. A lot of things hold well on the microlevel, but the macrolevel? Macroeconomics is mostly assumptions built on assumptions. Hence why it's so confusing, because it's practically a religion. The biggest issue in our monetary system currently is The Federal Reserve and our Debt based system relying on infinite growth in a finite world. It makes us all poorer and poorer and consolidates resources, land, and wealth in the hands of few. Checked out Money as debt if you want a good explanation of our current money system. This is a very good read too with numerous citations. Edit: Look at the comments of this economic analysis of bitcoin. You see the religions going head to head :P
The problem with a basic income is it pushes lots of people towards the basics. If you look at the UK, you can see that there are plenty of people who, for whatever reason, live marginally "on the dole". They have the equivalent of a "basic income" but they are a long ways from fulfilled. I'm not an expert, but my sense on the subject based on stuff I have researched is that there's a powerful motivation for effort-based employment and a powerful disincentive towards subsistence for everyone regardless of societal contribution.
To me it all depends if a basic income would actually shrink the labor force. Intelligent arguments for and against have been made. If it did, that might raise the cost of food, for example. It might actually trigger a sea change away from corporate big business America. It could have a large snowball effect. However, I think the smart money is on the work force not really decreasing much, because most people want more than 15000/year and I think those who are already sitting at that income level are in large part getting it from the government.