To the bolded:
You're hitting them out of the park today, Thrilla!
I believe basic income (by dropping most means-based social programs) would go a long way to motivating those otherwise abusing the means based-systems. I suspect productivity (in terms of the 'above ground' economy) would flourish as the prime obstacle to increased marginal employment for those individuals would be removed (that obstacle being benefits curtailment).
I've been a proponent of this for a long time, but I'm usually met with rebuffs of incredulity!
The only big question is: Will the entitlement savings equal the program costs? In other threads there was some attempt to quantity this, but the results were nebulous at best. However, I believe the numbers get in the ballpark at a relatively low (but IMO workable) guaranteed income level - one quite a bit below that of the recent Swiss referendum (2500 USD/mo).
due the machinations of modern finance, i'm utterly unconcerned of the cost ( as long as the program is enacted at the federal level)...therefore, I don't seek to quantify anything....I just know that it's a simple program, easily financed, every single citizen benefits from it directly( rich or poor, black or white,we all get the same rate), and it does not pit one demographic against another.... it's literally equal across the board.
our system is currently highly complex, so even trying to quantify costs versus savings would be tough, to any degree of accuracy.... I can't list every program that currently used to dole out payments to citizens, let alone account for how many dollars are at stake for each program....
about the only concern i have is how many federal employees would be out of a job once enacted... and to be honest, i'm more concerned about the game of thrones finale than I am bureaucrats being employed by the government.
as for the exact amount to assign, i think it gets a lil tricky there, due to regional cost of living differences... but its a solvable equation. ..we might, for example, peg it to current poverty levels for enactment, and subsequently peg it to inflation for future calculations... i dunno.
unfortunately, i think it's a pipe dream right now... neither the establishments of the left nor the right are supportive of such a thing, for differing reasons.... but i think with time it will become much more appealing.( i'll be long dead and gone by then)
one fo hte bugger impediments against such a notion right now is that it doesn't bring with it
power .... politicians , more than anything, are interested in power... division and strife among the populace brings power, not sensible and equal policy approaches.