Give me UBI and I quit my job to settle country side tomorrow, so would my wife. So would a few of my colleagues.
If you're a halfway skilled programmer you can scrape together the equivalent of what you'd get on any sort of realistic UBI doing small freelance jobs while living in the country side.
Bingo. All of these 'but you can work remotely' suggestions are non starters to anyone who isn't already relatively wealthy, because they carry immense risk.
If there was a serious safety net that guaranteed a decent quality of life, a significant portion of people would be taking on those options and leave the city centers.
True, it's one thing to convince your employer to let you work remotely. It's a totally different thing to convince a new employer to hire you remotely.
I'm leaving the midwest because there are too few opportunities for the work I do. I'll be fighting it out in NY soon.
If you're a halfway skilled programmer you can scrape together the equivalent of what you'd get on any sort of realistic UBI doing small freelance jobs while living in the country side.