One whistleblower who carried out benefits reassessments for a triple amputee recalled the claimant saying he felt he had to keep proving his limbs had not “grown back” to ensure his money was not cut.
This is already policy in Germany. Anyone with a disabled status has to regularly prove that they’re still disabled, even when it’s something as stupidly obvious as an amputated limb.
Benefits testing is a just way to punish people. A universal basic income would be a far better solution than this.
I don’t think a universal basic income is a good idea. The capitalists will just use it to supress wages, since the amount of wages is generally constrained by what is necessary for workers to survive. Reducing that amount will cause wages to fall.
A much better idea would be to give an unconditional basic income to everybody not currently working. This forces capitalists to maintain a minimum level of wages, while making unemployment survivable.
The only downside I can think of is that the capitalists will then do everything in their power to lower this kind of basic income. And they will use propaganda on those who are working to convince them that they are being forced to keep “dead weight” afloat. Although the latter possibility exists with a universal income as well.
