Household debt in the UK averages around 8k excluding mortgages.
The UK government has purchased £375 billion of assets as part of its Quantative Easing (sometimes known as 'printing') scheme, which is around 14k per household.
I have a lot of confidence that QE would have been much more effective in the UK if it had started by allowing every adult the ability to claim say 5k against existing debts (e.g. credit card, bank loan, mortgage). If the claiming individual had no debt or less debt than the amount offered, the remainder could be claimed as income. This would make a massive difference to indebted people, and by allowing people who weren't in debt to claim it as income, it avoids the moral hazard of people saying 'well I should have borrowed money'.
This is of course a separate matter to basic income, but I just find it interesting how comparable those numbers are - the personal debt and the amount created by quantitative easing and poured into assets mainly held by wealthy people.
The UK government has purchased £375 billion of assets as part of its Quantative Easing (sometimes known as 'printing') scheme, which is around 14k per household.
I have a lot of confidence that QE would have been much more effective in the UK if it had started by allowing every adult the ability to claim say 5k against existing debts (e.g. credit card, bank loan, mortgage). If the claiming individual had no debt or less debt than the amount offered, the remainder could be claimed as income. This would make a massive difference to indebted people, and by allowing people who weren't in debt to claim it as income, it avoids the moral hazard of people saying 'well I should have borrowed money'.
This is of course a separate matter to basic income, but I just find it interesting how comparable those numbers are - the personal debt and the amount created by quantitative easing and poured into assets mainly held by wealthy people.