The number one issue UBI detractors cite is “the economy would collapse if everyone got free money because everyone would stop being productive.” This would sort of serve as another data point not in their favor, but more importantly, it would serve as a data point for the members/housemates as to what they actually would do if they could quit their job. Well, MOST importantly, this is a real-world NEETdom plan that could be implemented tomorrow.

I’ve been kicking around the idea lately for a NEET houseshare. Basically we get like 12 guys and all rent a 6 bedroom house so about $2500/month including utilities (with ~12MB/s household net access) if we rent in my homestate NC. It’d likely even cheaper if someone did this in the middle of the country, but plasma compensation might be lower too. We sell our plasma (which takes ~7 hours/week) for tax-free income. That’s $3600/month if we all did the 7 hours every week. If we bought most of our groceries in bulk, $1100 is plenty for 12 adult men for 1 month. I’m not entirely sure, but I think women cannot live thriftily as easily as men and have a greater need for privacy too. Also I think housemates fucking each other in quarters this close is a recipe for disaster.

If someone wants to work a job or use welfare or get money from their parents and have their own room, or if 3 guys want to squeeze together to have more pocket money, that’s cool. We’d mostly just hang out and do whatever we felt like. Honestly you could choose to hang with the group or not. This is mostly about having sustainable NEETdom. Think a college dorm but we can drink openly. For everyone’s benefit, there would definitely be rules though. Because I’d ultimately be the one on the lease for my NEEThouse, the core rules I’d impose are:

1) no pets. I personally like animals, but they’d just cause too many logistics problems

2) no selling drugs. I personally like drugs, but selling them would just cause too many logistics problems. doing drugs is totally fine by me though, so long as you follow the other rules

3) all members must provide a 4 months “dues” deposit in advance and give 3 months notice before they leave. it might seem like a long time, but it would be extremely difficult to find new people to join this highly niche arrangement. also 4 months of dues would only be about $1000

4) don’t leave human waste/food/drinks/used dishes out in the open. the only mess I care about and the only one that actually has an impact is that which attracts bugs. going all paper plates is one solution. this isn’t about being green after all. “tidyness” i.e. mess regarding specifically non-perishable/non-food items will not be against the rules. leave your clothes and books wherever you want, except in each person’s room half. it’s kind of wishful thinking to hold a house like this to a tidy standard and doing so will likely just piss off the people with a lower tolerance for untidyness. I’d put triple the typical amount of trashcans all throughout the house to encourage their use

5) a zero tolerance policy for violating someone’s personal space or stealing their property, but that should go without saying. I also think it’s imperative to somehow record/mark everything that is for private ownership only and for communal use. if you bring some living room furniture or some condiments, you’d probably mark it as for communal use i.e. you forfeit the right to “tell someone to get out of your chair” or “why don’t you buy the next bottle of siracha?”. some nice beer or your laptop you’d probably mark as private i.e. if anyone wants to consume/use it, they must acquire your permission first, every time, and not getting your permission will be considered stealing their property. everything you bring defaults to private unless otherwise noted. you can switch something to communal whenever you want, but you can only switch back to private if you leave the house (to prevent abuse of the system). bulk food would be communal, but every member would likely spend some portion of their “UBI” on fancier, tastier private food. I think a clear system like this is imperative if the houseshare is to work

6) pay dues (your portion of rent + utility bills + bulk food + cleaning supplies costs) on time. if you wanted to live like this but still work you’d be more than welcome to. the selling plasma thing is just a “basic income” anyone who doesn’t have a serious blood illness can get

Yeah, it sure doesn’t guarantee healthcare (you could still get medicaid of course) but this is really intended for people in their 20s and early 30s i.e. before serious health issues start becoming likely anyway. And again, anyone would be welcome to make as much money as they wanted, just like UBI. I personally would try to select straightforward guys who have a history of taking care of themselves and tend to be into hobbies that can easily be enjoyed with little more than a computer or a backyard. Also I’d definitely strive to only choose manlets. Not only do we take up less space, we eat less too. There’s no need for us to all agree on every political or philosophical issue. All we’d really have to do is be considerate enough to share a living space. Ideally we’d be friends but I believe that’s not entirely necessary so long as we can communicate problems as all roommates ought to. However, I know all too well that first impressions aren’t always what they seem to be and a situation like this is very likely to attract people who don’t have their shit together. Which brings me to my next point.

It’s a bit of a harsh truth, but I think there should be only one person on the lease so removing problem tenants who don’t follow the rules or don’t pay their dues can’t just hide behind the fact that they too are on the lease. Hopefully anyone who starts one of these NEEThouses would be as much of a philosopher king as me. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s any practical alternative to a rigid hierarchy, especially at first. So it’d be like a college dorm where the person on the lease is the “RA”, mostly functioning as an administrator but also creating new house rules. There’s an old saying: “Dictatorships don’t need politics.” The problem is finding a good dictator. In quarters this close, a “democracy” would inevitably lead to people backstabbing and ganging up on people. In a “dictatorship” the only move you got if you’re not already in charge is to leave (without getting your deposit back) and I guess pettily wreck the house. A rotating dictatorship and meritocracy have their own problems, more complex than I feel like typing out right now.

So, that’s about the gist of it. I’ve worked out all the budgeting and even a bulk grocery list of sufficiently nutritious foods (ideally anyone could live off the bulk food alone) so I know this is financially possible tomorrow if I suddenly found 11 other dudes willing to live like this. And yes, it really is that cheap here; google “6 bedroom house NC rent cost”. I’m not going to make a list of specific potential houses until I have other people who want in on this though. Yeah, you won’t be able to afford the new iphone, delivery pizza, dank weed, or even healthcare by joining a NEEThouse, but UBI never promised any of that. I think one of the best way to describe UBI to people is: “A system to eliminate the cost of mere, simple existence.” This system does that. The only thing it doesn’t do is pump more money into the economy by putting currency in the hands of wealth creators i.e. people who immediately spend that money by giving it to the wealthy, job/product creators.

tl;dr sell plasma and share bedrooms so working is effectively optional

I welcome all criticism and discussion. This can be a reality tomorrow!