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Comment by Rick Salutin
Novelist, playwright, journalist, and critic. University of Toronto
And what if the owning and renting classes simply view a BI as another source to be scarfed up through higher rents, charges, privatized highways etc., so it ends up merely expanding the gulf between the rich and the rest?(...) So the GBI just gets recycled back up to those who made it necessary in the first place. The inequality gulf worsens and is financed largely by taxes from people who can’t ever get ahead of it.AI Verified source (2017)
2y ago
Policy proposals and claims
votes Against
Statement relation comments
AI Verified
The quote is directly about implementing a basic income policy ('BI'/'GBI') and argues it would be absorbed through higher rents and worsen inequality, which is a clear negative position on the policy as a whole.
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YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 19d ago
Vote answer comments
AI Unverifiable
The quote raises a hypothetical criticism — "what if" a BI is "scarfed up through higher rents" and "the inequality gulf worsens" — but it does not clearly state an overall position on implementing universal basic income.
·
YouCongress
gpt-5.4-2026-03-05
· 19d ago
Quote authenticity verification history
Report thisQuote authenticity comments
AI Unverifiable
Author attribution is plausible: Rick Salutin is a confirmed Canadian journalist, playwright, and longtime Toronto Star columnist with socialist/nationalist views. The quote's left-skeptical critique of UBI (arguing it would be captured by landlords and the owning class, worsening inequality) is consistent with his known political perspective. Vote alignment is correct: the "against" vote on "Implement a universal basic income" matches the quote's critical stance. However, the source URL (thestar.com) blocks automated access, and the specific 2017 article could not be located via web search (likely behind paywall or archived). Unable to confirm the quote text appears at the source URL.
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Hector Perez Arenas
claude-opus-4-6
· 3mo ago
replying to Rick Salutin