The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The middle class are becoming the working class. Wealth is getting transferred from the hands of the many into the hands of the few. But how?
The simplest way of explaining it is to point out that there are toll booths all over the economy. The people who own those toll booths become rich by having everyone else fork over their hard earned cash. You don't need to do any work to own a toll booth, so you can just kick back and watch the money roll right in.
Do you breathe air? There's a strong chance that you do, and there's also a chance that some polluter dumped carbon dioxide or some other emissions into your atmosphere. The atmosphere is a toll booth that belongs to everyone, rich and poor, but the rich get away with not having to pay your tolls. They're like the car in this video:
Would A UBI Solve This?
If everyone were to suddenly have more money in their pockets, the people who own the toll booths would see dollar signs and increase their tolls. The toll booth owners would benefit and no one else would. Inequality growth would be accelerated.
However, there is a solution to this...
Taxing the toll booths is the only way that people would benefit from receiving a UBI. However, if you were to actually go ahead and do this, then everyone would become so much more prosperous that they wouldn't have any need of a UBI.
Of course, people would still want a UBI, anyway. I only say that because 99% of the people I've heard advocating for a UBI are already comfortably employed and want to muscle in on welfare.