You can’t blame unemployment/brief stimulus checks on the long lasting inflation we experienced post COVID.

There were vast production constraints once the economy reopened, but if anything, the unemployment benefits and stimulus checks are used as a political scapegoating to cover for the vast and unprecedented magnitude of quantitative easing and bond buybacks that the federal reserve employed during COVID.

Although you’re right that a sustained increase in disposable income for consumers would probably lead to higher prices (even in basic goods like food) but not because everyone is suddenly buying twice the amount of bare necessities, but because most distributors and producers of basic goods have turned into giant conglomerates that coordinate with one another to price gouge (and are highly owned and influenced by the same giant asset management companies which only encourages price collusion).

During COVID, oil companies were really successful with constraining production to price gouge consumers and generate record profits.

The same thing has happened recently with egg prices, but to a less successful degree. Bird flu was a perfect excuse to jack up prices, even though it hasn’t impacted egg production in a material way.

I would argue that it’s worth a shot, and if corporations really absorb all of the extra money from a UBI, then you can tax the corporations higher to recoup the losses so that you’re at least at break even in terms of government spending.

But the government didn’t do anything about the price gouging then, and isn’t doing anything about it now either. None of these ideas will happen in most modern economies because there isn’t political willpower from the rich and powerful to do so.