I hate to say it, but this idea isn't insane. Mike Adams, the author, is right that Universal Income is actually Universal Welfare, but his repugnance at the idea is clouding his thinking.
Like it or not, computers and robots are rapidly arriving in the workforce. Humans will NOT be able to compete with them and, year by year, they're going to take over all repetitive functions. That's a problem.
If - and it's a significant if - artificial intelligence advances to the point where robot thought rivals human thought - then robots will take over ALL the jobs. It'll happen in the big companies first, but everywhere eventually as smaller businesses fail or robots become cheap enough that even smaller businesses can afford them.
What is humanity supposed to do then? Starve or go on welfare. Take your pick, Mr. Adams.
I wish that were the end of it but, sooner or later, the corporations being taxed to pay for universal welfare will learn to defend themselves against government's ability to make them pay. They might do it by hiding their robots, by moving off shore or off planet, by juggling their books or through military means. They may even become aggressive - turning themselves into autonomous, untouchable nations that fear no one and capture needed resources whenever they need them. Think of Microsoft, Facebook or Tesla with ICBMs and robot armies at their disposal.
Even universal welfare will go away when that happens. Only starvation will remain.
I'm painting a dark future but one that I think is pretty likely.
In light of that, why is universal welfare insane? I don't think it is. What's insane is that we're going create a world in which people can't earn a living.
But I don't know how anyone can stop that from happening.
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