Universal Basic Income

I have long advocated for a basic income for every citizen over 18 years of age.  It was interesting to see the NYT do a takedown of the idea, although it was more a criticism of the logistics and cost than a straight forward disavowal of the concept.  The writer first assumes every man, woman and child will receive the stipend, which based on a $10,000/year per person payment would cost the government 3 trillion dollars per year.  Of course there are 75 million people under 18, so that cuts quite a bit off the cost.  If you also subtract Social Security recipients and confine the benefit to those between 18 and 64 years of age the cost problem becomes much smaller.  The reporter then goes on to opine about the wonderful benefits of work.  In the next sentence he speculates the government payment will be a disincentive for workers.  You can't have it both ways.  If work is so fulfilling, surely a $10,000 payment wouldn't discourage people.  Clean toilets for a living and then tell me of the glories of work!  Certainly workers with a little bargaining power won't be cleaning your toilets for minimum wage anymore.  There should certainly be some experimentation with a basic income program.   At least it will yield real data instead of speculation on the effects of such a policy.