Unironically, in EU, AU and probably UK, the cost of a minimalist UBI is certainly less than the current cost of welfare plus bureaucrats.

Before anyone "unfriends" me for being Socialist, I didn't say it was a "good idea", just better than the status quo. 

 Lol, too late unfriending as we speak! Less perhaps yes, but we don't actually know the amount of value destroyed that would have been should those original generators of capital been able to benefit from the full value of their labour