I was discussing in more modern terms.
UBI came into prominent discussion in modern America through various libertarian and right-wing think tanks.
The model for the American welfare system has always been more or less a bribe to tell the segments of the population we no longer want or need in our workforce to stay down and shut up.
That chugged along fine until previous voting bloc segments that were considered vital began to fall into that group in larger and larger numbers. That, coupled with the right-wing reactionary "welfare queen" moaning, presented a dilemma, which is where UBI started to crop up in D.C. libertarian think tanks.
