I agree that price is simply a measure of what the market will bear, but I don't see how a basic income results in exhausting the additional supply of disposable income through inflated prices.
To continue with your apple market example, you could try to charge $2 or more per apple, but pretty soon other people will realise that they can employ their own staff to run an orchard and deliver apples to the same market at a marginal cost far less than that, and competition will drive the market price back down.
With a basic income, people's basic needs would be met and any additional income earned would be a supplement. If they agree to work for $1 an hour picking apples, then that is the price the market will bear for that particular skill and the price for a single apple will be reflective of this.
A minimum wage on the other hand works in the opposite direction. If it is set to $50 an hour, then sure, the costs of apples, along with most other things, will skyrocket, but there will also be a huge amount of deadweight loss as people simply choose to forgo employing others for many skills in the first place.
"To continue with your apple market example, you could try to charge $2 or more per apple, but pretty soon other people will realise that they can employ their own staff to run an orchard and deliver apples to the same market at a marginal cost far less than that, and competition will drive the market price back down."
Unless I reinvent the market and brainwash you that my Apple is like no other and it's worth selling your kidney for it. This way I'll grow my Apple company to record high stock prices and I'll sue any other kind of vegetable sellers. You'll think you'll figure out a way to beat us in the end, but the truth is that pretty much everything (even the Jobs) will be ours eventually and everything you ever dreamed to afford will be ours to give.
To continue with your apple market example, you could try to charge $2 or more per apple, but pretty soon other people will realise that they can employ their own staff to run an orchard and deliver apples to the same market at a marginal cost far less than that, and competition will drive the market price back down.
With a basic income, people's basic needs would be met and any additional income earned would be a supplement. If they agree to work for $1 an hour picking apples, then that is the price the market will bear for that particular skill and the price for a single apple will be reflective of this.
A minimum wage on the other hand works in the opposite direction. If it is set to $50 an hour, then sure, the costs of apples, along with most other things, will skyrocket, but there will also be a huge amount of deadweight loss as people simply choose to forgo employing others for many skills in the first place.